The inspectors of the National Securities Commission who this Monday begin investigations to determine whether anyone had access to inside information on the contents of the announcement of debt repurchase They have several suggestions to investigate.
So far there has been talk of an unusual volume of business concentrated in the operations of GD30 Bonus on Monday – a public holiday on Wall Street – and on Tuesday, i.e. the two days preceding the announcement that Massa made on Wednesday at 9 in the morning, despite the fact that the message was recorded on Tuesday night.
The National Securities Commission is the body that regulates capital market operations and is chaired by Santiago Negri.
But in the last few hours another new element has emerged which, a priori, deserves to be explored. This is information that was recorded on the operators’ screens: the interest rate some investors had to pay to take out dollar securities.
The Attention it is a credit instrument used by traders and investors to finance their transactions. Basically, they borrow funds from the ALYC and leave easily tradable bonds, stocks or other financial assets as collateral.
This is a short-term credit that can be renewed indefinitely, if the debtor so wishes, provided that the guarantees (collateral) transferred in exchange for the funds cover, in excess, the amount taken as guarantee.
The surety in pesos is a routine instrument: today the installments are around 65% per year.
But what is not usual is the dollar deposit. Although it is also available. Until before the announcement, an investor could take security in dollars by paying in return a rate that is far from exceeding 1% per annum.
Something very surprising happened on Monday and Tuesday. The operations of the guarantors who accepted the payment have been recordedr rates of 8% per annum and even more.
The reason for agreeing to pay this fee is unknown. But you can connect the dots. Take dollars at 8% a year to buy a dollar bond that climbed 11% on Wednesday in the center of the wheel it can be a juicy deal. The profit made far exceeds the financial cost of the borrowed funds.
So this investor, if he existed, borrowed the funds, used them to buy a dollar bond on Tuesday, sold them Wednesday at a daily super profit, and repaid the loan. Without putting his own capital, he earned a few dollars.
As mentioned, there is a record of that operation. There is also a record of who bought bonds in the previous days. The National Securities Commission shouldn’t have much trouble getting an overview.
Of course, it’s much more difficult to pinpoint what’s most important. Where did the information come from with the content of the announcement that Massa would have given on Wednesday morning.
Massa, asking the CNV to open a summary on Friday, also asked that the entire state of progress of the investigation be made public. He also called on the opposition to unite. The opposition had previously responded by demanding that the minister be called to testify.
Last, and not least. A similar investigation could be launched in the United States by that country’s capital market regulator, the SEC. With the difference that this dossier would be far from the reach of the Argentine authorities, and also far from possible manipulation.
Source: Clarin
