Organizes and runs the Italian regulated markets for equities, bonds, and derivatives. The company was privatized in 1997 and on January 2, 1998, began operating within a regulatory framework primarily defined by the Consolidated Law on Financial Intermediation and by the consequent Consob-implementing resolutions on issuers, intermediaries, and markets. During its first years of activity, Borsa Italiana completed and enhanced its corporate model. It now leads a group that offers a full and diversified set of products and services covering the entire business system: from listing, to trading, to the various post-trading components, also including guarantee and custody operations. The Borsa Italiana subsidiaries are BIt Systems, the ICT company that provides investment banks, brokerage houses, institutional investors, Internet brokers and companies that operate marketplaces with high quality IT consulting services, offering qualified technological knowledge and valuable experience in creating solutions that integrate and rationalize business processes; Cassa di Compensazione & Garanzia (CC&G), the Italian clearing house that operates as central counter party for equities, derivatives, and government bonds securities; Monte Titoli, the Central Securities Depository also with settlement functions; Piazza Affari Gestione e Servizi that is responsible for the management of the Congress and Training Center located in Palazzo Mezzanotte, the building in which Borsa Italiana's headquarter is based.
All the markets managed by Borsa Italiana are electronic and order-driven (the computerized order-driven trading system was introduced in November 1991, all listed securities were gradually transferred to the new system and since 1994, all listed securities have been traded electronically). Markets can be grouped, based on the type of instruments traded, as follows: Equities Markets, MTA for companies operating in traditional segments, MTAX for high-tech companies, and Mercato Expandi for Italian micro caps. MTA and MTAX are organized into three equal segments: Blue-Chips for large companies; STAR for mid and small companies that adopt more stringent requirements in terms of liquidity, transparency, and corporate governance; Standard for mid & small companies complying with the general rules defined for the overall market.
Shares included in S&P/MIB, MIB30, and MIDEX indices are traded in the after-hours market lasting from 6 P.M. to 8:30 P.M. STAR shares may be traded in the after-hours market if supported by a specialist; Electronic Funds Market (MTF) where Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and closed-end funds are traded; Electronic Market for Bonds and Government securities (MOT): fixed income instruments belong to two different segments: DomesticMOT for Italian Government bonds and other bonds denominated in euro and other currencies; EuroMOT for euro-bonds, Asset-Backed Securities (ABS), foreign bonds, and other fixed-income securities. Securitized Derivatives Market (SeDeX) where securitized derivatives are traded; if supported by a specialist, securitized derivatives may be traded after hours. Italian Derivatives Market (IDEM), where options and futures on the S&P/MIB index and on single shares are traded. Borsa Italiana's main indices are: S&P/MIB, MIDEX, STARS, techSTAR, ALL STARS, MIBTEL and MIB. www.borsaitaliana.com.
