Belgium
1 Country overview
MTS Belgium, a division of MTS Associated Markets, has been established for the purpose of trading Belgian sovereign securities.
MTS Associated Markets SA/NV, operates under the supervision of the National Bank of Belgium (NBB).
Shares in MTS Associated Markets SA/NV are held by the list of banks mentioned under item number 6 - Shareholders Institutions.
A Board of Directors, elected by the shareholders, governs MTS Associated Markets SA/NV.
2 Instruments
2.1 Obligation Linéaires (OLOs)
OLOs are medium and long- term debt securities denominated in euro and issued in dematerialized form.
OLOs are issued in tranches, which form a line. Each line has an identical nominal interest rate and maturity. OLOs are issued through a multiple price based auction or alternatively through a syndication and are reimbursed at par.
Currently, OLO securities ranging from 0 to 30 years maturity are traded on MTS Belgium, though only the securities with a maturity longer than 1 year are subject to quoting requirements.
Listed securities subject to quoting requirements are divided into five different maturity buckets:
A (1.25-3.5y)
B (3.5- 6.5y)
C (6.5- 13.5y)
D (13.5y- 17.5y)
E (over 17.5y)
2.2 Belgian Treasury Certificates (BTCs)
BTCs are short-term bills with maturities up to maximum one year.
They are denominated in euro and issued in dematerialized form normally on a bi-monthly basis through a yield- based auction.
Listed securities are divided into three different maturity buckets:
A (up to 3 months)
B (up to 6 months)
C (up to 12 months)
2.3 BPO (strips)
BPO are the principle of stripped OLOs.
2.4 BFR (Belgian Floating Rates)
BFR are variable interest-bearing public government bonds
2.5 BFS (Belgian Fungible Strips)
BFS are bonds which nominal value corresponds to the redemption value of the original OLO.
For a full list of available instruments, click here.
2.6 Minimum lots
OLOs
Depending on the bucket, proposals must be formulated for a minimum quantity equal to EUR 5 or EUR 10 million for benchmark securities and EUR 2.5 or EUR 5 million for liquid securities.
Orders may be made for EUR 2.5 million or multiples of EUR 0.5 thereof (i.e. 3, 3.5 etc)
BTCs
Proposals must be formulated for at least a minimum quantity of EUR 10 million. Orders may be made for EUR 2.5 million or multiples of EUR 0.5 thereof (i.e. 3, 3.5 etc)
BPOs
Proposals must be formulated for at least a minimum quantity of EUR 2.5 million. Orders may be made for EUR 2.5 million or multiples of EUR 0.5 thereof (i.e. 3, 3.5 etc)
BFRs
Proposals must be formulated for at least a minimum quantity of EUR 2.5 million Orders may be made for EUR 2.5 million or multiples of EUR 0.5 thereof (i.e. 3, 3.5 etc)
BFSs
Proposals must be formulated for at least a minimum quantity of EUR 1 million. Orders may be made for EUR 1 million or multiples of EUR 0.5 thereof (i.e. 3, 3.5 etc
3 Participants
For a list of participants, click here.
3.1 Participant requirements
Market makers other than Primary Dealers of Belgian State must have net assets of at least EUR 250 million. Institutions that are not Primary Dealers of the Kingdom of Belgium and that wish to participate in the system as market makers will be asked to demonstrate a significant turnover in Belgian government securities.
Market takers must have net assets of at least EUR 40 million and demonstrate a total turnover in Belgian government bonds of no less than EUR 300 million over the previous twelve months.
4 Market Hours
Cash
Market Hours (CET)
Pre-Market: 7:30am – 8:00am
Trading Hours: 8:00am – 5:30pm
Market Closed: 5:30pm
5 Settlement
Trades on Belgian Government bonds settle at National Bank of Belgium (NBB-SSS). MTS sends Swift settlement instructions on behalf of both participants to NBB-SSS. MTS participants must hold a securities account at NBB-SSS either directly or indirectly through a custodian.
LCH.Clearnet Ltd is available as a Central Counterparty: for CCP transactions MTS sends Swift trade messages on behalf of both participants to LCH.Clearnet Ltd.
The settlement cycle is T+2. The settlement calendar follows the TARGET calendar skipping value date only on TARGET non-business days.
6 Shareholders
Barclays Bank Plc
Belfius Bank
Citigroup Global Markets Ltd
Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank Danske Bank A/S
Deutsche Bank AG
Fortis Bank N.V.
Goldman Sachs International
HSBC France
JP Morgan Securities Limited
ING Bank NV
KBC Bank N.V.
Morgan Stanley and Co. International
MTS S.p.A.
Nordea Bank A/S
Nykredit Bank A/S
Scandinaviska Enskilda Banken
Société Générale
Sydbank A/S
The Royal Bank of Scotland NV
UBS Limited
7 Market Data
Click to view:
Daily bulletins
7.1 Password protected
Click to view:
8 Contact
Aline Morley
Relationship Management
T: +32 2 210 69 00
Paolo Senes
Chairman
T: +32 2 210 69 00
Jurgen De Corte
Executive Director
T: +32 2 210 69 02
Jean-Pierre Mateza
Associate
T: +32 2 210 69 03
Legal address: Rue des Comédiens, 22 – 1000 Brussels
Group email address: mtsam@mtsam.com
Fax: +32 2 217 84 70
