The Management Board of the Warsaw Stock Exchange (GPW) and the Management Board of BondSpot have taken regulatory measures in order to initiate the transformation of the currently dispersed Catalyst market and the simplification of its structure.
The initiative will address the needs and expectations of market participants taking into account the guidance defined in Poland’s Capital Market Development Strategy.
The amendment of the rules will limit the list of debt instruments eligible to be admitted and introduced to trading on the regulated market and in the alternative trading system (ATS) operated by BondSpot exclusively to Treasury bonds. The initiative will in the future help to centralise trading in Treasury bonds on the markets operated by BondSpot.
To protect the interest of trading participants, the effective date of the amendments follows a waiting period. The amendments of the rules governing the regulated market and ATS come into force on the first day of the calendar month directly following a six-month period after the date of publication of the amendments for information of trading participants. As a result, the amended GPW rules and BondSpot rules (including both the ATS and the regulated market) will come into force on 1 July 2021. That effective date of the market rules leaves the participants sufficient time to align with the modifications.
“The Catalyst market participants have repeatedly suggested that the market needs to be simplified. The simplification has also been proposed in the Capital Market Development Strategy. The amendment of the bond market rules is the first step to the reorganisation of Catalyst. We want the target structure of Catalyst to optimally address the needs of market participants,” says Izabela Olszewska, GPW Management Board Member.
In line with the planned modifications, GPW will eventually operate Catalyst as a market listing corporate bonds, co-operative bonds, and municipal bonds. Debt instruments will continue to be traded both on the regulated market and in ATS. The Catalyst market operated by BondSpot will only list Treasury securities.
“We expect that the planned modifications will turn BondSpot into the Treasury bonds competence centre. This will allow us to develop the right infrastructure and functionalities necessary to make the market more attractive and to meet the objectives of the Capital Market Development Strategy,” says Mariusz Bieńkowski, President of BondSpot.
