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Frequently
Asked Questions What are the benefits of using the Financial Calendar? Why are holidays so complicated? How often do you update the data? How do you deliver and compress the data? How much advance notice of holiday changes will I receive? Do I have to
worry about weekends? Why don’t you
list holidays for countries? How do you
treat half-day holidays? How far forward does the data go? Will I be able to reduce payment error rates? Is all the Holiday Data available online? Do I still
need bank holidays for the 16 countries that are participating in the
Euro? What holidays
do I need for euro-denominated trades?
How often do
Licensees receive data updates? What kind of
online support do you give to Licensees? What’s in the
license agreement? Can I cancel
the license agreement? Do I pay the license fee once, or is it an annual payment? Can I load the
data onto a server? Are there any
limits on which Centers I can select? What if I need
holidays for a Center that's not on your list? Can I order
more holiday Centers in the future? What are the
layouts of the Holiday Data? Can you
customize the data layout and format? Can I switch
to a different layout or format next year? Do you also
license the algorithms underlying the holiday dates? Can you supply
holidays for longer than 31 years? What's the
turnaround time for obtaining the data? Other
questions? To
e-mail us a question, click
here. What are the benefits of using the Financial Calendar? There are two main benefits. First, customers save vast amounts of time and money by outsourcing the data gathering and maintenance process. Second, they spend far less time arguing with counterparties about holiday dates, because in most cases the counterparty also uses the Calendar—in other words, when two people both use the same dictionary, they won’t waste time arguing about spelling. Why are holidays so complicated? There are numerous sources of complication. A major one is path-dependency, where holidays are triggered or cancelled according to other, seemingly unrelated events. For example, “March 10 is a holiday only when Easter falls in April,” or “July 25 is not a holiday in years when December 25 falls on a weekday.” Around the world there are hundreds, if not thousands, of path-dependent holidays, many with very complicated algorithms. The difficulty of identifying path-dependent relationships becomes evident when you keep in mind that the pattern of the days of the week for any given year will not repeat for five, six, 11 or 28 years; the cycle of dates for Catholic Easter repeats itself every 5,700,000 years; the Chinese, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Orthodox and other calendars each have their own lengthy cycles; and some countries observe holidays from as many as three different religions/calendars. We suspect (although we cannot prove it) that the holidays for just four centers—Hong Kong, Mumbai, Tehran and Tel Aviv—would have a combined cycle that is longer than the age of the universe. A second source of complication is much more mundane: Many countries refuse to make up their minds until the last minute. As we’ve gained experience (we have been doing it since 1992), we’ve learned that last-minute holidays are often triggered by certain predictable events. For example, some countries declare holidays to coincide with national elections, so we routinely monitor election days around the world. To capture these last-minute changes, we’ve created a system called Diarize to keep track of the numerous factors that can trigger the announcement of a new holiday or a change in its date (it’s rare for holidays to be cancelled). So, for example, if a country has a habit of announcing a week ahead of time that the Monday prior to a Tuesday holiday will also be a holiday, Diarize will track all such occurrences and alert us two weeks prior so that we can monitor the situation. We also use numerous news services around the world as an additional means of identifying holiday changes. The third complication arises because “official” sources of holiday information are often wrong. In fact, our experience is that around 20% of the “official” holiday lists that we receive contain errors. These errors are normally easy for us to identify when we perform a comparison with our pre-existing predictions of the holidays. A fourth complication is the difficulty of identifying which individual/department/ministry is responsible for determining holidays. For example, in a given center some holidays may be determined by statute, while others are at the discretion of the central bank, the President, the Ministry of Religious Affairs or the trade unions. Before we first publish holidays for a center, we make sure to identify the ultimate determining authority for each holiday. How often do you update the data? We monitor holidays on a daily basis because they can change at any time (click here for the latest statistics on the frequency of holiday changes). In effect, we treat holidays as real-time data. Immediately after we discover and confirm a change, we notify Licensees and make the revised data available through the Real-time Analytics service. How do you deliver and compress the data? We can send the data via e-mail as a file attachment, or you can download it from our FTP site. In both cases, the files are compressed using WinZip or GZip. How are you able to charge money for the Holiday Data when some of this information is available for free elsewhere? We add value. We're in the Calendar business, and we've invested over 200,000 man-hours in researching holidays. Holidays contain numerous complexities that only become evident after detailed and lengthy investigation. Among the many factors that distinguish the Calendar are:
Yes. We offer unlimited, free informational support to all paying customers. More frequently than most people think. For the latest statistics on the frequency of holiday changes, click here. How much advance notice of holiday changes will I receive? Unfortunately, many holiday changes are announced at very short notice. Of course, we inform customers as soon as possible. For statistics for the last two years, click here. Do I have to worry about weekends? Unfortunately, yes. A number of Centers have complicated weekends. For example, one Asian country's weekend consist of every Sunday, plus the second and fourth Saturday. Several other countries take additional holidays during the week, but compensate by turning an adjacent Saturday into a good business day. Why don’t you list holidays for countries? In many countries there are regional variations in holiday practices. This means that a countrywide list of holidays would be both complex and difficult to use. To avoid these problems, we list holidays at the city level, in keeping with the way that the vast majority of financial contracts are written. How do you treat half-day holidays? To qualify as a holiday, a Center must be closed for the entire day. In our Calendar, a half-day holiday is considered a good business day. We do, however, publish information about half-days as part of our Trading Hours product. How far forward does the data go? The standard data package for Licensees goes forward 31 years, although we can supply holidays covering any forward window of time out to the year 2100. The window can be denominated in years, months or days. The Real-time Analytics goes forward 31 years. Will I be able to reduce payment error rates? Yes. Of course, payment errors can be caused by many factors, including trade input errors and incorrect standard settlement instructions. But inaccurate holiday data can also be an important contributing factor. If you’re looking for ways to reduce payment errors, the Financial Calendar can help by ensuring an accurate and complete record of good business days in every center in which you do business. According to a recent survey (ISDA 2001 Operations Benchmarking Survey: Over-the-counter Derivatives Operations Issues), the average dealer has a payment error rate of 1.4%. Many firms do a lot better than that. In fact, 32% of firms have an error rate of 0.5% or less. But some do a lot worse. No matter what your payment error rate, the Financial Calendar can reduce it. Is all the Holiday Data available online? Most, but not all. This site does not contain any data that goes more than 31 years into the future, while the full database available to Licensees extends to the year 2100. Also, we've not yet put online a handful of tailored data packages, such as the expiry dates of various futures and options contracts. Do I still need bank holidays for the 16 countries that
are participating in the Euro? You will almost certainly need them for your legacy trades (trades in any of the component currencies that were entered into prior to 1999 and that designate a specific city as the basis for determining holidays). Unless you've redocumented your legacy trades, they will probably follow the holiday schedule that would have been in effect had EMU not occurred. You can think of the bank holidays that we list for the 16 EMU countries as being legacy calendars. For a more detailed analysis of the complications that can arise when using the Calendar in the context of an ISDA-documented trade, click here. What holidays do I need for euro-denominated trades? For new trades entered into from 1999 onward, you'll need Target holidays (Target is the cross-border payments system for euros). For pre-1999 trades that are converted into euros because they were originally effected in one of the participating currencies, you will need the bank holidays in the Centers that are specified in your trade documentation. For a more detailed analysis of the complications that can arise when using the Calendar in the context of an ISDA-documented trade, click here. To
become a Licensee of our data, complete the Order
Form. To sign up for the Real-time Analytics, click
here. How often do Licensees receive data updates? We monitor holidays on a daily basis because they can change at any time (click here for the latest statistics on the frequency of holiday changes). In effect, we treat holidays as real-time data. Immediately after we discover and confirm a change, we notify Licensees. The number of updates you receive will be approximately proportional to the number of centers you license. As a rule of thumb, a customer licensing 75 randomly selected Centers could expect to receive about two to three updates per month on average, although in any given month that customer might receive as few as zero or as many as seven or eight. In addition to these periodic updates throughout the year, Licensees also receive a complete refresh of data annually in late January/early February. This refresh ensures that you always have 31 years of data. What kind of online support do you give to Licensees? This site has a section called Licensee Support that is dedicated to providing customer support for Licensees. Licensee Support contains our Early Warning Service, which gives you a heads-up on imminent, probable holiday changes. It also has a lookup feature that enables you to check the status of any date in any Center and find out when we last issued an update for each Center. And you can ask questions of our Informational Support Department. What’s in the license agreement? The license agreement gives you the right to unlimited usage of the Holiday Data within the designated sites; it sets out our obligations to update the data and deliver it on a timely basis; it specifies the circumstances in which the two parties may cancel the agreement; it sets out the annual license fee, in a formula which is based on the number of holiday Centers you wish to receive and on inflation; and it prohibits you from selling the data. The agreement is three pages long, plus a schedule that lists the Centers you require and the sites in which the data will be used. Can I cancel the license agreement? Yes. You may cancel at any time by giving us notification that you've purged all our data from your systems. Do I pay the license fee once, or is it an annual
payment? It's an annual payment. You will be billed for the first license fee upon signature of the license agreement. In subsequent years, assuming you've not canceled the agreement, you will be billed at the time of the annual update in late January/early February. Can I load the data onto a server? Yes. But keep in mind that the license fee is determined by the number of cities that use the data, from the server or by other means. Are there any limits on which Centers I can select? There are no limits. You can choose any combination from the List of Centers, as few or as many as you like. What if I need holidays for a Center that's not on your
list? We will develop the Center for you, and we will charge you the same price as for a Center that is already in inventory. The only difference is that the development work for a new Center can take some time. Can I order more holiday Centers in the future? You are welcome to add new Centers at any time. All it takes is a one paragraph amendment to the license agreement. The incremental cost of each new Center is calculated by pro rating the license fee. What are the layouts of the Holiday Data? There are three layouts. One is a giant Spreadsheet. The first column, from rows 2 to 11323, contains a sequential series of dates (assuming a 31 year window). The first row contains a series of column headings, the first being for the dates, and each subsequent one for each Center. For example, if you license 20 Centers, the Spreadsheet layout will have 21 columns. Each cell in the Spreadsheet layout contains one of three entries: a "g" to indicate a good business day; a "w" to indicate a weekend; or a number to indicate a holiday. A separate lookup table enables you to determine the name of the holiday. To view a sample of the Spreadsheet layout, click here. The second layout (called TriCol) consists of three columns, containing the date, the name of the Center and the status of that day in that Center. In this layout, there is one row for each non-business day (either a holiday or weekend) in each Center. The TriCol layout contains less raw data than the Spreadsheet layout because it does not list good business days. However, good business days can be inferred because TriCol lists all non-business days. To view a sample of the TriCol layout, click here. The third layout (called Compressed) lists only holidays. It contains no information about weekends. In this layout, there is one column for each Center. Each column contains a sequential series of holiday dates, arranged in chronological order. To view a sample of the Compressed layout, click here. Three file formats are available for the Spreadsheet and Compressed layouts: Excel, tab-delimited, and comma-delimited. Two formats are available for the TriCol layout: Tab-delimited and comma-delimited. The format you select does not affect the cost. Can you customize the data layout and format? Yes. If the standard layouts or formats do not meet your needs, we can customize them for you. However, depending on the amount of work required, there may be an additional charge. Can I switch to a different layout or format next year? Yes. You can switch between our standard formats and layouts at any time and at no extra charge. Do you also license the algorithms underlying the holiday dates? Yes. We can license a narrative description of the algorithms for the holidays in each Center. An example of the algorithms, which are on paper not in computer code, is as follows: Independence Day for New York banks falls on July 4, except if a Saturday then...except if a Sunday then... Can you supply holidays for longer than 31 years? Yes. Our most popular forward window is 31 years. However, customers can select any window out to the year 2100. The window can be denominated in years, months or days. If I write a routine for installing the Holiday Data into my system, can I be certain that the structure of the data won't change? Yes. Because we have many customers who have written such routines, we guarantee that the basic structure of the data will never change. If you are thinking of writing any routines for manipulating the data, we can give you the technical specifications. It depends on the layout and format you choose, with Excel files being much bigger than tab- or comma-delimited files. For example, 20 Centers in the Spreadsheet layout (including the supporting files) take up approximately 3.4 MB in Excel, or 0.7 MB in tab- or comma-delimited formats. The numbers for 100 Centers are 16 and 2.8 MB respectively. In the TriCol layout, 20 Centers take up 1.4 MB and 100 Centers 6.8 MB. All files are compressed using WinZip or GZip in order to reduce transmission times. How do you deal with the Muslim lunar-based holidays whose timing is only known a few hours or days ahead of time? We have recently completed a five year project designed to provide accurate predictions for the dates of Muslim lunar-based holidays. The Koran says that each Muslim month should begin upon the sighting of the new moon. In practice, each country has its own method of determining the start date of the month. This means that a given holiday is often observed on different days in different countries. Our research project looked at many years of historical observations to determine the methodology used by each country. As a result, we believe our predicted dates are now as accurate as is feasible given that many countries rely on the naked eye to determine the start of the month. Prior to the completion of the project, it was our practice to place an asterisk in the data files next to each Muslim holiday to indicate a high degree of uncertainty. That practice is no longer in effect. What's the turnaround time for obtaining the data? Normally, only a few hours, although it can be longer if there are time zone differences. Typically, we would fax you a license agreement within a couple of hours of receiving your order. Once we receive a fax of the signed license agreement, we can normally send out the data within three hours. In our experience, the most time-consuming element of becoming a licensee is normally the internal review process that most customers employ prior to obtaining signature approval. Complete the Order Form and fax it to us. We will send you a license agreement for your signature. Copyright © Swaps Monitor Publications, Inc., 2010. |