Madrid, Apr 8 (IANS/EFE): Individual investors will be able to buy and sell Spanish sovereign debt starting Monday, the Spanish Treasury said.
Small investors will be able to buy Treasury bonds on the SEND electronic trading platform as if they were trading listed stocks.
Until now, individual investors could buy regular Treasury issues on the primary market via a financial institution, the Bank of Spain or online.
Small investors, however, did not have access to the secondary market, which is almost exclusively reserved for institutional investors, so they could purchase Treasury bonds but could not sell them before maturity.
Individual investors will now be able to buy or sell Treasury bonds on the secondary market just like trading stocks.
Santander, BBVA, Popular, Caixabank, Cecabank, Bankia, Bankinter, Ahorro Corporacion and Renta4Banco are among the Spanish financial institutions that operate on SEND.