Altura Markets is the most prominent brokerage firm for execution and clearing of exchange traded derivatives in the Iberian Peninsula. Set-up like any other Société Générale branch around the globe, Altura Markets offers access to listed derivatives markets worldwide, combining local presence with global reach. The active support from our shareholders - BBVA and Société Générale - two of the most important banks in the Eurozone, provides us with the necessary strength on our balance sheet to fulfil our long-term objectives.
Incorporated as a 50/50 joint venture between BBVA and Société Générale, for the past 15 years Altura Markets has become the leading brokerage firm in futures and options in the Iberian Peninsula. Altura Markets’ success is based on the compatibility of its two shareholders, Spain’s BBVA bank and France's Société Générale brokerage firm, the world's most important company in execution and clearing of listed derivatives.
This capital structure allows us to be at the forefront regarding connectivity and accessibility to markets and products which, combined with our local presence, sets us apart from our competitors.
Our goal is to ensure our clients’ access an impartial service, removing all possible conflicts of interests at all times.
Our clients recognise our efforts and, since 2005, have consistenly grant us as the Best Derivatives Brokerage Firm Award of Risk Magazine for the Iberian Peninsula.
With more than 1,000 professionals in the group working in the derivatives industry worldwide and a staff of over than 60 people in our Madrid offices, we are convinced that we have the right size and solvency to fulfil our commitments to wards clients.
At Altura Markets we are focused on the interests and needs of our clients. To better service them, we offer a global service while being close to our clients, talking their language and understanding their needs.
Our main goal is to continue to be the most prominent derivatives brokerage firm for the Iberian Peninsula and thus to maintain our solid leading position within that area. For this purpose we focus exclusively, in the execution and clearing of listed derivatives, Within this narrow, highly focused, range, new services are constantly being added, both at a geographical or product level, whenever they are deemed to better satisfy our clientes needs. This effort means we are at the cutting-edge of technology in our industry.
We can only achieve our goals if we listen to our clients’ needs, anticipate their requirements and adapt to their demands rapidly and effectively.
We are convinced that we will only be capable of achieving our goals by creating a business culture of continual improvement and investment both in human resources and technology, that make this happen, and convey this ambition for self-improvement to all our staff. We want to excel in every activity we take on and our clients are essential to feed this motivation.
At Altura Markets we work to build long-lasting relationships with our clients in such a way that they become our finest ambassadors.
We strive to be at the forefront of technology in the brokerage industry and we are committed to constant self-assessment so we make the right decisions to adapt to the environment we operate in ahead of our competitors.
Ethics, teamwork and innovation are our company’s core values.
We believe that it is vital to identify our clients and employees with the values we consider important in order to carry out our activities.
Ethics: We are completely focused on listed markets brokerage, we have no other interests. Transparency, integrity and rigorous ethics are the characteristics that define all our activities and our client relationship. We demand the highest level of honesty and transparency from all Altura Markets professionals, and that they place the clients’ interests first and foremost.
Teamwork: At Altura Markets, the spirit of association reigns in relationships, within our teams and to our clients. We believe this is the best way to achieve our shared purposes. Our clients are our business partners and this is only possible through mutual respect and trust.
Innovation: To achieve the maximum level of satisfaction and the best quality service for our clients we rely on the enormous talent and energy of our teams, as well as their ability to detect future trends in our industry’s ever-changing markets. Our commitment to innovation and our constant work to achieve excellence leverage the ongoing development of our business and constant progress.
Altura Markets is a 50/50 joint venture between BBVA and Société Générale. The expertise of our shareholders allowed us to achieve a leading position in listed derivatives brokerage.
BBVA is a global financial group with diversified business offering financial services in 31 countries to 51 million customers. It has a solid, leading position on the Spanish market, it is the largest financial institution in Mexico and also has leading franchises in South America and the Sunbelt region of the USA. It also has a significant presence in Turkey and operates a large branch network worldwide. With more than 130,000 employees and almost 1 million shareholders, it rose to be one of the major international banks in the world.
Société Générale is one of the main European financial services companies. It also carries out the activity in other parts of the world. The group is currently one of the most important players on the market in its core business, centered around corporate and investment banking, asset management and banking services. It has almost 150,000 employees, is present in 76 countries and has more than 30 million customers.
Altura Markets aspires to reamin a brokerage firm which is a benchmark in a globally competitive and regulated market, where transparency and impartiality are as important as speed and efficiency. To achieve this, it is key that Altura Markets works independently from its shareholders to avoid conflicts of interest.
Altura Markets works with a transparent structure that allows effective governance and also guarantees autonomy between shareholders and operational functions.
Altura Markets’ Board consists of the following directors:
Directors from BBVA:
• Antonio Ordás
• Alexis F. Thompson
• Ramón Martínez Sobrado
Directors from Société Générale:
• Amaury de Villemandy
• Franck Borgel
• Alexandre Fleury
Steering committees:
The following Committees report directly to the Board: Internal Control and Compliance, Risk, Finance and Services.
• Sverre Hasvold, Director general
The Executive Committee consists of 6 members assisting the CEO in managing Altura Markets’ business activities.
Risk control policy is part of our growth strategy and assits business development in a secure framework for our clients and shareholders.
Altura Markets is regulated by the CNMV (Spanish Securities Market Commission), adhering to its strict rules of risk control and management.
Risk control is an independent role within Altura Markets, guaranteeing correct risk analysis, measurement and control of the entity’s counterparty risks. Our procedures require that any business activity done by Altura Markets has to be approved, controlled and reported timely from an associated risk point of view.
Altura Markets also has a specific department controlling the operational risk inherent to its activity.
Risk control applications are regularly updated, endowing the risk department with state-of-the art technology for the consistent improvement of their performance.
Altura Markets risk control team is committed to creating a safe environment for the company and its clients.
Altura Markets was incorporated in April 2001 as a joint venture between BBVA and Carr Futures
• 2004 Carr Futures became Calyon Financial
• 2008 Calyon Financial and Fimat merged to form Newedge
• 2008 Altura Markets opened new offices in Parque Empresarial Cristalia
• 2009 Newedge Madrid closed and was integrated into Altura Markets
• 2014 Société Générale bought 50 % of Newedge's shares from Crédit Agricole becoming the sole shareholder in Newedge
• 2015 Newedge was integrated into Société Générale GBIS’ structure
Altura Markets, as part of SG universe, is the leading listed derivatives brokerage firm worldwide. We continue to grow and increasing the offer of products and services to be available to our clients. Together, we have access to more than 85 markets worldwide and we are global leaders in the execution and clearing of listed derivatives.
Markets
Altura Markets offers the widest choice in the sector, and this allows us to provide direct access to more than 85 derivatives and stock exchange markets worldwide. Altura Markets and Société Générale are leaders in derivatives execution and clearing in the majority of the most important futures and options markets around the globe.
In the last financial year, the group acted as broker in more than 6.7 million contracts and cleared nearly 6.9 million contracts a day overall. These figures are higher than the total traded by the world’s most active marketplace, the CME.
Ranking and Awards
Altura Markets has, from the very start, consistently occupied first place in the Spanish Futures & Options Exchange (MEFF) and Eurex rankings for most active members.
At an international level our shareholder, Société Générale, ranks first as worldwide clearer, according to the rankings published by CFTC, which tracks customer assets deposited with their listed brokers in futures and options markets worldwide.
Altura Markets has developed and implemented efficient anti-money laundering procedures which are effective in all steps of the commercial relationship and include:
• Compulsory internal Manuals and Procedures.
• Know-Your-Customer Procedures.
• Annual Training for all Altura Markets staff.
• Annual Audit by independent auditors.
Altura Markets’ activities are carried out in accordance with the Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) and the legislation transposing it into Spanish law, in particular, the Securities Exchange Act, which was reformed by Law 47/2007, and by the Royal Decree 217/2008 on the legal status of investment firms.
In implementing these regulations, Altura Markets offers the highest standards of quality, information and protection to its clients at all stages of the contractual relationship.
In any activities with third parties, Altura Markets’ directors, managers and personnel represent and bind the company exclusively under the following terms:
1. Company bodies and the CEO may act and legally bind Altura Markets using the appropriate documents and with the scope provided for in the Act and the company’s Articles of Association.
2. Other Altura Markets’ employees may only bind the company to third parties where they hold a power of attorney which is validly granted for that purpose.
3. Without prejudice to the foregoing, in general, Altura Markets’ trading desk employees do not hold any powers to bind the company other than those relating to the transactions on the markets that come under Altura Markets’ company purpose.
If you have any queries about the binding capacity of any Altura Markets’ employee, you can ask your usual Altura Markets’ contact or send an e-mail to altura.compliance@alturamarkets.com
Altura Markets, S.V, S.A. is a Securities company incorporated under Spanish law and with registered office at Vía de los Poblados, 3, 28033 – Madrid, Spain. Altura Markets is a 50/50 joint venture between its two shareholders: BBVA (Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria) is the leading Spanish bank with a 20 % market share in nearly all business lines and is one of the largest financial groups in Latin America.
Société Générale International, Ltd is a leader in global asset brokerage. 100 % owned by Société Générale, it is regulated by the British FCA and offers a complete range of execution, clearing, access to global markets, prime brokerage and financial services.
Altura Markets has a consolidated platform for all markets, with a fast and efficient allocation system that also offers a range of value added services for the client, such as our market reports and STP solutions.
The wide range of financial products offered by Altura Markets is used by a broad array of institutional clients.
Altura Markets’ clients fall into the following categories:
• Financial institutions.
• Industrial groups.
• Investment funds.
• Pension funds.
• Financial intermediaries.
• Investment banks.
• Private bankings.
• Insurance companies.
Altura Markets currently services over 300 execution and clearing clients. We work with the most important national and international market makers, something essential for finding the best counterparties for our clients.
As a leading company in international financial services, we take our social commitments very seriously, especially in the communities where we are located. At an international level, our shareholder, Société Générale, has collaborated in several youth support programmes as well as in environmental causes and the provision of assistance to the most disadvantaged communities.
Locally, Altura Markets has collaborated on the following aid programmes:
• Medicos sin Fronteras: Diagnosis and treatment of Chagas disease in rural Cochabamba (Bolivia)
• Sonrisas de Bombay: Educational project for the Balwadis
• Down's Syndrome Foundation Madrid: Artedown Project
• Adela: Golf Tournament in aid of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) sufferers
• Apadema: Outreach and care association for people with intellectual disability
• Cris Cancer: Cancer research foundation
• Dialogo: An association promoting and developing Hispano-French cooperation and friendship
• Unicef UK: This agency collects funds to support Unicef’s work protecting the rights of children worldwide, under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)
• Solidario: Social action project which holds solidarity events to help the most disadvantaged: Soup kitchen sales, Solidarity Awards, Darse, The Ethiopian Farm, Ananta Foundation, Bikes for life and Colours of Calcutta Foundation.