CNV Further Restricts Blue Chip Swap Transactions

The Argentine Securities Commission (the “CNV”, after its acronym in Spanish) issued General Resolution No. 843, published in the Official Gazette on June 22, 2020, establishing a minimum holding period of five (5) business days, counted as of the date on which the securities were credited in Caja de Valores S.A. (as Central Securities Depository Agent), as a prior requirement for the sale of securities against foreign currency when such securities have been transfers from depository entities abroad.

It also set forth that the negotiation and settlement of transactions in pesos with securities listed and/or traded in Argentina, made by registered agents and other persons under the purview of the CNV in a proprietary role, may only be executed through authorized markets of clearing houses registered before the CNV.

While executing proprietary trades, agents registered with the CNV will be required to net (on a daily basis) their purchases and sales in local markets against freely available dollars delivered outside  Argentina with the purchases and sales of securities in markets abroad. If a daily position were left unbalanced, it may be balanced in the following days to the extent that at the end of the week, the position must be neutral or net long.

Lastly, by means of Interpretative Criterion No. 70, the CNV established that transactions against freely available dollars delivered outside of Argentina and those negotiated proprietarily in markets abroad by agents registered before the CNV may only be executed using the following securities: (i) securities publicly listed and/or traded in markets authorized by the CNV; (ii) ADRs (American Depositary Receipts); and (iii) CEDEARs (Certificados de Depósito Argentinos).