SIX Group’s Bolsas y Mercados Españoles (BME) has listed new European-style cash-settled options contracts through the Spanish derivatives market, MEFF.
Specifically, the contracts are settled by differences, eliminating the possibility of early exercise with this type of option and offering investors benefits including standardisation, improved accessibility and flexibility.
As part of the initial stage of the launch, the first contracts also cover underlying stocks including Banco Santander, Banco Sabadell, BBVA, Endesa, Iberdrola, Inditex, Repsol, and Telefónica.
Clotilde Salmerón, head of MEFF, said: “At BME we are constantly working to offer new alternatives for investors. We believe that with this new launch, the Spanish derivatives market offers new incentives for all types of investors, which will allow us to continue growing.”
The contracts have been available to investors since March 2025, and the launch has also been supported by Susquehanna, who played a key role in rolling out the European-style cash-settled equity options.
The launch follows further developments for BME in recent months. In April 2025, the exchange unveiled a settlement system for foreign exchange transactions in a payment versus payment (FXS) mode, in a bid to improve efficiency and reduce risks in FX transactions.
Similarly, in March BME announced a reform to Spain’s securities settlement system to improve efficiency, align the Spanish market with European standards, and prepare it for the T+1 settlement cycle by 2027.
The law removes the obligation for the central securities depository (CSD) to have an information system for the supervision of trading, clearing, settlement, and registration of negotiable securities, as a required component for the traceability of operations on negotiable securities from trading to their final settlement.