BYMA held its seventh Shareholders Meeting

Yesterday, BYMA -Bolsas y Mercados Argentinos- held its seventh Shareholders' Meeting on second call.

During the activity, key events took place, such as: the presentation of the management results, the financial statements as of December 31, 2023, and the approval of two cash dividends, one in dollars, the other in pesos and a capital increase with distribution of shares; the election of the authorities of the administrative and supervisory body as well as the presentation of the company's main initiatives during this period, which will set the course for the current fiscal year.

‍"2023 ended with outstanding results in economic and financial terms that make tangible the evolution of BYMA but fundamentally of the Argentine Capital Market. Innovation and the incorporation of leading technology together with sustainability and financial education were our guiding principles. Among other outstanding initiatives, we facilitated access to trading for all types and classes of investors with the development of tools and connectivity improvements that allowed an easy and efficient access to trading, increasing the trading volume. We implemented a new custody system developed with Nasdaq Technologies, one of the world's leading providers. We introduced BYMAEDUCA, the free online introductory training program, which had more than 30,000 participants. Our ultimate goal is to make the Capital Market increasingly accessible so that all Argentines can transform their savings into investments," expressed BYMA's President, Ernesto Allaria. And he added: "We concluded a year that marked a turning point for what is to come. 2023 opened up new and multiple development opportunities that we at BYMA will continue to capitalize on with work, commitment and projects."

Dividend payment

The Ordinary General Shareholders' Meeting approved the payment of two dividends, one of USD 34.312,500 and another of $6,800 million in cash to be distributed among shareholders as of next April 17.

Capital increase

An increase in capital stock in the amount of $ 3,050,000.000 (three thousand fifty million pesos), through the capitalization of the Capital Adjustment account, which raises the capital stock to $3,812,500.000 (pesos three thousand eight hundred and twelve million five hundred thousand), with the consequent issuance of common shares of 1 vote and par value $ 1 each, corresponding 4 new shares for each one held, which will be duly credited to the company's shareholders once the CNV's approval is obtained.

Authorities

Directorate
Chairman: Ernesto Allaria
Vice President: Marcelo A. Menéndez

Principal Directors

• Alexander Zawadzki
• Gabriel Martino*
• Luis E. Álvarez
• Roberto D'Avola*
• Eduardo J. Tapia
• Andrés Edelstein*
• Claudio Zuchovicki
• Ricardo Torres
• María Angélica Grisolia
• Alberto Ubertone

• Mateo Brito
• Gonzalo de la Serna
• Sebastián Arena
• Mariano Fiorito*
• Tomás Vassolo
• María Julia Díaz Ardaya*
• Fernando Terrile
• Paula Bujía*
• Juan Ignacio Abuchdid
• Juan Ignacio Abuchdid
• Alejandra Naughton
• Silvia Abeledo
• Guillermo Gamble

(*) Independent Directors elected by the Meeting.

‍Supervisory Committee

Persons

• Fernando A. Díaz (Chairman)
• Matías Olivera Vila
• Guillermo M. Lipera

Alternates

• Eduardo Di Costanzo
• María José Van Morlegan
• Carlos Vyhñak

Data explaining the Local Market in 2023

BYMA is a technology company that provides trading, settlement and custody platforms. As a stock exchange it provides a diversity of products for all types of participants: retail investors, trading desks, funds, insurers.

As a result of the developments and novelties that BYMA introduced in the local market throughout 2023, the following results were achieved:- Trading volume of all products increased by 70% in 2023, reaching a total traded volume of USD 637.358 million.

Against 2022:

• The largest increase was recorded in Equities: 77%. Local equities increased 171% and CEDEARs 41%.
• Fixed Income grew 67%
• Securitization grew 66%
• Options grew 114%

- In 2023 more and more people chose to invest their savings in the Capital Markets. The total number of client accounts in Caja de Valores at the end of the year was 7,024,578. Among them, client accounts with operations in BYMA totaled 3,647,912, 401% more than in 2022. Among the total number of accounts, a highlight is the 3,120,100 new principal accounts that were active, 866% more than in 2022.

‍ Furthermore, regarding the geographic distribution of the new accounts: 18% come from the Federal Capital; 36% from Buenos Aires; and 45% from the interior of the country -with Córdoba, Santa Fe and Mendoza standing out-. This shows that the Capital Market continues to evolve in terms of accessibility and federalism.

‍The number of companies issuing debt during 2023 was 128, this means 21% more than in 2022. The total number of debt issuances (or placements) during that year was 393, 11% more compared to 2022.  

‍- A record number of issues with impact was recorded. The Social, Green and Sustainable Bond Panel (SVS) ended the year with 63 tradable securities listed, 66% more than the total with which it closed 2022. The amount of labeled debt already exceeded USD 1.5 billion. This means that more and more issuers are venturing into SVS financing.

‍- Technology and innovations that facilitate access to investments. In 2023 Caja de Valores, the Central Securities Depository of Argentina that integrates the BYMA Group, implemented its new Custody System, developed with the leading CSD (Central Securities Depositories) technology of Nasdaq, one of the largest automated and electronic Stock Exchanges in the United States. The platform boosts the resilience, capacity and speed of Caja de Valores, which can process more than 1,000 transfers per second, 300 times faster than the previous system.

- SMEs continued to find financing in the Capital Markets through instruments such as the Digital Promissory Note, the Echeq and the Electronic Credit Invoice.During the past year, 239,402 was the total number of SME instruments entered into custody, 5% more than in 2022. At the end of the year, there were 57,909 SME instruments in custody. Of the latter number, 77.7% corresponded to Electronic Checks, 19.5% to Electronic Promissory Notes, 0.6% to Checks and 2.2% to Electronic Invoices.

- More people were trained in finance and investments with BYMAEDUCA, BYMA's financial education program. The number of participants in the courses grew as a result of a greater interest in market issues. After some initial experiences with free trainings in 2022, in which slightly more than 1,100 people participated, in 2023 a total of 30,760 participants were registered throughout 14 trainings. Thus, the Capital Markets gained greater visibility among the options that people may consider when it comes to boosting their economy.

The BYMA 2023 report is available here.

‍Access the report with all the data.

Projections 2024

Based on what was achieved in 2023, which officiates as a great starting point, the BYMA Group's focus for the current year comprises:

• Development of technology for the financial ecosystem
• Open innovation through new investments to be made by our Corporate Venture Capital fund BYX Ventures
• Introduction of new sustainability products
• Continuous improvement of the trading and negotiation conditions for all participants
• Financial education to promote that the Capital Market is increasingly accessible to all Argentines
• Identification and generation of new benchmark securities built on the original source of market data: BYMA.

In 2024 BYMA will continue to transform investment in work and development for Argentina.