Unicredit SpA becomes new operating member of BME Clearing in the Fixed Income segment

BME Clearing, BME's Central Counterparty, has reached an agreement with Unicredit SpA for it to become a new operating member in the Fixed Income segment. With its incorporation, there are now 25 clearing members in this segment, including the main banks and financial institutions operating in Spain. It will become BME Clearing's third international counterparty as of April 15.

"The agreement with Unicredit SpA is the result of close cooperation and we expect it will lead to higher volumes in this segment. Counterparties will be able to take advantage of the liquidity of an international bank of Unicredit's stature," said José Manuel Ortiz, CEO of BME Clearing.

In the Fixed Income segment, BME Clearing acts as Central Counterparty (CCP) for trades with Fixed Income instruments traded on securities exchanges, electronic systems or traded by other means between Clearing Members and/or Clients. At present, cleared transactions are simultaneous or repo trades on Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, French, German, Austrian and Dutch sovereign debt.

BME Clearing receives real-time information on the trades to be novated and confirms novation to the corresponding Platform, while at the same time updating the member's position in the account opened with the CCP. It is also in charge of generating trade settlement instructions. In addition to this, it calculates - both in real time and at the end of each session- the risk of each Clearing Member based on the outstanding position pending to be settled, based on which it requires a margin and provides the Members with the result of the settlement process.