Euronext bonus for Greek state bonds
The integration of the Athens Stock Exchange into the Euronext Group is bringing about significant developments for the Greek sovereign bond market, as it paves the way for an agreement between the Public Debt Management Agency (PDMA) and the pan-European body to enhance the activity and liquidity of Greek securities.
Euronext’s bond trading platform, MTS, one of the many existing Greek bond trading platforms, now receives enhanced recognition from the Hellenic Securities Exchange and becomes “equal” with the Greek HDAT (Electronic Secondary Securities Market) with regard to specific criteria.
This gives MTS Greece a head start over other trading platforms, such as BGC, Marex (formerly HPC/OTCex) and Tradition, something that legally could not have been implemented without the acquisition of the exchange. HDAT, of course, will retain its dominant role in the Greek bond market (bond valuation, auctions, etc). “MTS Greece will help us enhance activity and electronic liquidity in the Greek government bond market, to the benefit of all stakeholders,” noted PDMA head Dimitris Tsakonas.
According to this enhanced framework, which will be implemented from January, primary dealers in the Greek government bond market will benefit from new incentives to increase their activity on the MTS Greece platform, complementing transactions on the main HDAT system. Kathimerini understands the incentives concern the criterion of trading volume, which until now was more favorable for those primary dealers trading on HDAT; now, MTS Greece will be “equal” with HDAT in this criterion and the aim is to thus enhance mobility and therefore liquidity in Greek securities.
The deal was first discussed in September and was finalized during a recent trip to Athens by Stephane Boujnah, CEO and board chairman at Euronext, in late November. “We look forward to working closely with PDMA and MTS to support the trading of Greek government bonds between dealers across Europe and beyond,” he said.
This initiative represents the next step in integrating and modernizing Greece’s market infrastructure into the broader European capital markets ecosystem. MTS provides transparent, efficient and regulated markets for government bonds.
