Spanish Exchange Group Launches Securities Services Unit

Spanish Exchange Group, Bolsas y Mercados Españoles (BME), has launched a new Securities Services unit, BME Securities Solutions, which will provide post-trade, clearing and depositary services for financial institutions.

Set to go live in October, the unit will significantly change existing post-trade systems in Spain, following the “reform of the registration, clearing and settlement system… as well as the planned connection to TARGET2 Securities (T2S),” BME says in a statement.

The Spanish market will go live on T2S in Wave 4 (February 2017).

With the launch of BME Securities Solutions, it will provide the exchange a monopoly of post-trade services in Spain. It already operates Spain’s main clearing house, BME Clearing, as well as the central securities depositary (CSD), Iberclear.

Iberclear also jointly runs REGIS-TR, one of six trade repositories in Europe.

However, there has been some criticism over countries, such as Spain, where one exchange group has a monopoly in the post-trade space. Last October, a study by Market Structure Partners found Brazil, Spain and Australia the most expensive countries for clearing and settlement.