Market infrastructure - Portugal

24.06.2024

Institutions and organisation

Stock exchange  Euronext

The Portuguese Stock Exchange is a wholly owned subsidiary of Euronext, the European stock exchange for Amsterdam, Brussels, Dublin, Lisbon, Milan, Oslo and Paris. The Portuguese location of Euronext manages Portuguese corporate bonds, equities and exchange traded products.

CSD  Porto | euronext.com

Interbolsa, or Euronext Securities Porto, was launched in 1989 and handles the clearing and settlement of Portuguese securities.

Interbolsa (Sociedade Gestora de Sistemas de Liquidação e de Sistemas Centralizados de Valores Mobiliários, S.A.) is a limited liability company, entirely owned by Euronext Lisbon, part of Euronext Group, whose purpose is the management of securities settlement systems and central securities depository systems. The company’s mission is to promote the connectivity and the international opening of the markets, through post-trade platforms based on the best technologies available.

To fulfil its mission, Interbolsa carries out a wide range of activities related to the delivery of superior quality products and services concentrated in the following three main areas:

Interbolsa is responsible for the organisation and management of the settlement systems of securities in order to ensure the money transfers associated with the transfers of securities or inherent rights and with guarantees regarding operations over securities.

Hence, the settlement systems managed by Interbolsa perform:

  • Settlement of operations done in regulated or non-regulated market;
  • Settlement of Over-The-Counter (OTC) operations between the participants in Interbolsa's settlement system and directly instructed by the participants;
  • Settlement of operations resulting from securities lending operations through the Securities Lending Management System (Sistema de Gestão de Empréstimo - SGE);
  • Settlement of free of payment (FOP) transfers;
  • Financial settlement regarding the exercise of rights inherent to the securities registered or deposited in the CSD;
  • Calculation of the corresponding financial settlement and sending of the payment instructions to Banco de Portugal (TARGET2) or to Caixa Geral de Depósitos (SPME), depending on whether the payment is in euro or in non-euro currency.

Participants in the settlement systems are the financial intermediaries affiliated to Interbolsa that ensure the physical and financial settlement of the operations carried out in a market, regulated or not, as well as the operations done off-market.

Agência de Gestão da Tesouraria e da Dívida Pública – IGCP, E.P.E. (IGCP)

The Agência de Gestão da Tesouraria e da Dívida Pública – IGCP, E.P.E., is the public entity responsible for the integrated management of cash, funding and the direct debt management, which includes, under the applicable law, the debt of public corporations whose financing is ensured through the state budget. IGCP is also responsible for coordinating the financing of autonomous administrative and financial services and funds, in accordance with Decree-Law no. 200/2012 of 27 August 2012.

Banco de Portugal

Banco de Portugal is the Portuguese central bank and handles cash clearance.

Caixa Geral de Depósitos, S.A. 

The entity has been designated by Interbolsa to provide financial services in a currency other than the euro, inherent to the settlement of operations through the systems managed by the CSD (SPME).

CCPs 

Several CCPs act as clearing houses and central counterparties for the operations conducted in the markets of Euronext Group, including Euronext Lisbon, in spot and derivatives markets. In the performance of their tasks, the CCPs ensure the registration, clearing, settlement, collateralisation and risk control of the operations conducted in Euronext Lisbon.

Regulatory structure

Comissão do Mercado de Valores Mobiliários (CMVM)

CMVM is the primary regulator of the Portuguese securities market. It was established by Decree-Law 142-A/91 of 10 April as the authority in charge of supervising and regulating securities and other financial instrument markets, as well as the activity of all those who operate within those markets.

Banco de Portugal

Banco de Portugal has a special supervision power over money market and currency instruments.