organizes and runs the Italian regulated markets for equities, bonds, and derivatives. The company was founded in 1808, privatized in 1997, and acquired by the London Stock Exchange Group in 2007. It offers a full and diversified set of products and services covering the entire business system: listing, trading, the various post-trading components, and 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 highquality IT consulting services; 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; and Piazza Affari Gestione e Servizi, which is responsible for the management of the Congress and Training Center located in Palazzo Mezzanotte, the building in Milan where Borsa Italiana is based. All the markets managed by Borsa Italiana are electronic and order-driven (the computerized order-driven trading system was introduced in 1991, 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-size and small companies that adopt more stringent requirements in terms of liquidity, transparency, and corporate governance; Standard for mid-size and small companies complying with the general rules defined for the overall market. Normal trading sessions are held from 9:05 a.m. to 5:35 p.m. Borsa Italiana’s main indices are S&P/MIB, MIDEX, STAR, techSTAR, ALL STAR, MIBTEL, and MIB. Shares included in S&P/MIB, MIB30, and MIDEX indices are also 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.
www.borsaitaliana.com.
Dictionary of Finance and Investment Terms. Copyright © 2010 by Barron's Educational Series, Inc. All rights reserved.
