SoftSolutions! announces that XTAuctions! product suite has achieved operational capability to perform negative yield bidding for Italian and Spanish Bill auctions.

Spread of negative auctions

Negative yield auctions are becoming a novel feature in many countries and for central banks across the EU and the world, and have been adopted by many countries such as Spain, Sweden, Japan and also by larger central institutions such as the ECB.

XTAuctions! new release

With the new XTAuctions! 2014 release, which has been fully tested and certified with Banca d'Italia and Banco de España, and deployed successfully to all clients in December 2014, XTAuctions! clients can now handle seamlessly negative yield auctions.

Management of negative yield auctions is performed via the same infrastructure as the regular yield auctions and is completely hassle-free. XTAuctions! also enables mixed bids, meaning that XTAuctions! users enjoy full control on their bidding levels, depending on market and policy conditions. Roberto Cocchi, SoftSolutions! CEO, commented: “Of all the advantages and improvements brought with XTAuctions! 2014 Major Release for, we think that the management of negative rates auctions is the most clear example of how SoftSolutions! has got its pulse on the situation in Fixed Income primary markets and promptly provides its customer with services to manage this ever-adapting environment.”

Other trading platforms

Other SoftSolutions! primary auctions services (XTOptes-Treasury Operations, XTOpen!-TLTRO and Open Market Operations) now handle transactions that can potentially include negative yield characteristics.