Market infrastructure - Argentina
Institutions and organisations
Stock exchange
- Bolsas y Mercados Argentinos (BYMA)
In order to meet the new capital market’s needs, as provided by the Argentine Law No. 26831, Buenos Aires Stock Market (MERVAL) has been reorganised pursuant to the provisions of section 77 of the Income Tax Law, thus proceeding to the partial division of its assets in order to create the new legal entity named Bolsas y Mercados Argentinos S.A. – BYMA, which will continue MERVAL’s trading activities. The special feature of this new company is that MERVAL has joined as a shareholder.
The main function of BYMA is to supervise the execution, settlement and guaranty of those trades.
OTC market
- Mercado Abierto Electronico (MAE)
MAE is an over-the-counter market supervised by the Comisiòn Nacional de Valores (CNV) for government and corporate debt. The settlement of trades done on MAE is arranged between counterparties and may be done through Argenclear, CRYL, Clearstream or Euroclear.
CSD and Clearing Agency
- Caja de Valores S.A (CVSA)
CVSA is the central securities depository for publicly offered Argentine debt securities and
equities. Most securities held at CVSA are dematerialised (around 95%).
CVSA runs the Electronic Transfer system which was created in 1999 to eventually replace the physical transfer slips that were used to transfer securities between accounts at the CVSA.
Securities are transferred on a free of payment basis in CVSA. Payments must be arranged separately by the counterparties.
CVSA also provides depository and registration services.
Each member of CVSA maintains a master account (depositante number), under which subaccounts (comitente number) are opened in the name of its clients. Securities are registered in the name of the sub-accounts.
CVSA also distributes dividends and interest payments, carries out functions of National Numbering agency following the ISIN standards. - CRYL (Central de Registro y Liquidacion de Pasivos Publico s y Fideicomisos Financieros)
Created in 1996 by the BCRA, CRYL is a clearing house for the registration and settlement of new issues of debt instruments issued either by the BCRA or the public sector. CRYL is regulated by the Central Bank. It can process transactions on both a free-of payment and on versus payment basis, acting as a clearing agent for the financial settlement. All placements in the primary market settle through CRYL.
Once government bonds are traded in the primary market, it is market practice that they are transferred from CRYL to the CVSA. Participants maintain two accounts at CRYL, one for proprietary assets and one for customer assets with segregated sub-accounts at the final beneficial owner level. Registration is effected in the name of the final beneficial owner.
CRYL works based on instructions remitted in paper by participants. Settlement is final upon completion of the settlement cycle. Securities and cash are moved simultaneously provided that there is enough balance on the account. - ARGENCLEAR
Argenclear was implemented in August 2000 and is a centralised system that acts as clearing and settlement agent for all transactions executed on the Mercado Abierto Electronico (MAE), the organised OTC market for debt securities. Argenclear provides a DVP environment as it clears as both securities and cash on a net multilateral basis.
Argenclear utilises the services - of CVSA to effect the securities movements and - of Camara Compensadora Interbanking (CCI), the cash clearing house, to effect the funds transfers resulting from the settlement process.
At 15:00 the system closes and runs the settlement process with the exchange of securities and cash for each participant.
Central Bank and payment systems
- BCRA (Banco Central de la República de Argentina - the Argentine Central Bank)
BCRA’s electronic payment system MEP (Método Electrónico de Pagos) is a real-time gross inter-bank payment system that replaced the old 4090 forms in November 1997. The use of MEP to effect inter-bank payments in BCRA is strongly recommended.
Regulatory structure
The securities industry is regulated by the Comisión Nacional de Valores (CNV)
The CNV:
- Ensures the transparency of Argentina's securities markets, to watch over the market price formation process and to protect investors.
- Has full authority to regulate and control all aspects of the public offering of securities, other than primary issues of government securities.
- Has authority over the entire securities market, and can impose disciplinary measures on market participants.
- Approves public offering in order to have securities listed on the BCBA.
- Promotes and supports the development of the Argentinian capital market.