The Warsaw Stock Exchange will start trading in T-Bond futures on Monday 14 February 2005.
Though the market is open to foreign investors, local banks trading on their own accounts are expected to dominate activity in the early days.
The underlying instruments will be fixed-interest T-bonds issued by the Polish Ministry of Finance with a minimum issue value of not less than PLN 5 billion and between 2 years and 9 months and 5 years and 6 months to maturity.
“As in the case of other futures contracts, the National Depository for Securities (NDS) will be responsible for daily and final settlement on delivery date and will keep control of the current level of margin,” explains Dariusz Domaradzki, head of custody at Bank BPH in Warsaw. “The range of investment opportunities on the WSE will be widened by the introduction of these new instruments, which used to be available on the OTC market only.”