The Brazilian Mercantile & Futures Exchange launched on Tuesday, November 30th, the BM&F Bank. Representatives of the Brazilian Central Bank and the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM) were present at the event, which took place in São Paulo. The Bank’s launching coincides with the debut of WebTrading, an electronic platform, developed by BM&F, to negotiate mini derivative contracts via internet. It begins operating on December 3rd. During the event, the ADR index (American Depository Receipts), in partnership with Dow Jones, was also launched.
The BM&F Bank, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Exchange, was developed to offer greater operational agility in the flow of resources and custody management, with more efficiency and cost reduction. The BM&F Bank will contribute to the system’s capillarity, balancing the competition between large, medium or small market players.
The Bank debuts with a variety of products, a Settlement Account, among others, which allows the movement of client resources and online control of flows for the settlement of transactions; and the WebTrading Current Account, which will receive the resources deposited as pre-collateral in transactions made with the mini contracts via internet.
BM&F’s president, Mr. Manoel Felix Cintra Neto, explained that the Bank has two basic functions: facilitate the operational part of the settlements and minimize the risk of both clients and brokerage houses. According to Mr. Cintra Neto, the chain of responsibilities of the settlement process, which passes through the client, brokerage house, clearing member and clearinghouse, does not alter with the beginning of the Bank’s operations.
“BM&F Bank does not compete with other banks because its core business is differentiated, since it’s exclusively a settlement bank. Its objective is to elevate the settlement process’s level of efficiency and provide more competitiveness to member brokerage houses”, explained Mr. Cintra Neto.