The history of the BM&F is a successful one. Created only a few years ago (June 1985) it is today the fifth largest futures market of the world and the largest among the emerging countries.

The Commodities^- and Futures Market (BM&F) is incorporated as a public company and is regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM).

The BM&F was created to develop, organize and operationalize free and transparent markets for the exchange of bonds and/or contracts that possess, as reference, financial assets, indexes, indicators, rates, commodities^- and currencies, under the full up-front payment modality and the future clearing^- modality. And in order to do that, it carries out the registration, compensation and clearing^- physical and financial of the operations with such bonds and/or contracts realized in open voice trading or in electronic system.

To achieve those purposes, it has and keeps its own quarters and systems for exchanges, registration, compensation and clearing^- of purchasing and sale operations, and for the quick and inclusive announcement of the carried out transactions, portioning them of the facilities and needed technological advancements. In developing those activities, the BM&F created mechanisms and rules for the accompaniment and the regulation of its markets and also to ensure to the participants the performance^- of the obligations committed to in those exchange, registration, compensation and clearing^- systems.

One of the necessary conditions for the perfect working of the financial and capital markets is the certainty given to its participants that their gains will be pocketed and that their purchasing and sale operations would be fully paid under the established conditions and due dates. That is provided by the registration, compensation and clearing^- chambers or clearings, through a compensation system that takes the responsibility for the clearing^- of the business deals, transforming itself into the buyer for the seller and the seller for the buyer, with adequate structure for the risk management of all the participants.

That model is applied to all three BM&F Clearings Derivatives, Currency Exchange and Assets -, according to the characteristics of the markets to which they offer registration, compensation and clearing^- operation services. Those Clearings are considered systematically important by the Central Bank of Brazil (Bacen), being authorized and regulated by it. (source: BM&F)