Borsa Italiana Fixed Income, Warrants and Certificates markets opened for trading on the Euronext Optiq® trading platform for the first time last week. The second phase of the migration plan of Borsa Italiana markets to Optiq saw over 32,500 instruments switch to Euronext’s proprietary trading technology, just six months after Borsa Italiana’s Equities and ETFs migrated in phase one. Derivatives will follow in 2024.
Opening up the markets to a new set of Italian instruments
When Euronext’s Fixed Income, Warrants and Certificates markets opened for trading on Monday 11 September 2023, the range of instruments on offer had expanded, with over 32,500 Italian fixed income, warrants and certificates now available for trading on the Optiq trading platform. This marks a major milestone in the journey to integrating all Borsa Italiana markets into the Euronext Optiq® platform, as the Italian cash markets are all now live, and another key step in building the backbone of the Capital Markets Union in Europe.
Bonds, certificates and warrants
This phase of the migration brought across Borsa Italiana’s three fixed income markets: MOT, the regulated market designed to facilitate access to the bond market for private investors; Euronext Access Milan (formerly ExtraMOT), a multilateral trading facility (MTF) for professional investors that offers trading in bonds listed in other EU markets as well as Italian bonds, particularly those issued by SMEs; and EuroTLX, another MTF targeted specifically to non-professional and professional investors trading in retail-size fixed income securities.
Also included in the scope was the Borsa Italiana SeDeX market, for retail investors trading certificates and covered warrants, collectively known as securitised derivatives products (hence the name SeDeX). The Italian secondary market is one of the most active in Europe for these financial instruments.
Enhancing the markets for Italy and across Europe
Migrating the Borsa Italiana markets onto one platform gives investors in Italy the opportunity to trade a much wider range of products, while issuers of financial instruments gain access to a broad investor base across Europe and internationally, through all seven Euronext marketplaces. Likewise, European investors can benefit from trading Italian products through the Euronext platform.
The Optiq technology offers improved connectivity and backward/forward compatible protocols, and an optimised messaging model, and it has been adapted to bring in the best features that were in place for former users of Borsa Italiana, meaning enhanced markets for all users.
European and international trading clients also benefit from using only one platform for several markets, as the harmonised design and architecture simplifies their development needs. They have access to the largest liquidity pool in Europe, with a single entry point.
Existing members can extend their membership to a new Euronext market through a simple process.
What’s next?
This successful migration means that two of the three phases in the major Borsa Italiana markets migration to Optiq plan are complete, and the cash markets in all seven Euronext countries are now integrated on the same trading platform. The third phase will see the migration of derivatives instruments, and is targeted for the first quarter of 2024.
Meanwhile, work continues on the other major migration on Euronext’s books, this time in the post-trade sphere. Currently the clearing house for Italy (formerly CC&G), Euronext Clearing will become Euronext’s CCP of choice for its cash equity markets in November this year. Derivatives will follow, migrating from LCH SA to Euronext Clearing by Q3 2024, resulting in a harmonised clearing framework across Euronext venues.