B3SA3 B3

B3 S.A. – Brasil, Bolsa, Balcão, traded on B3 under the ticker B3SA3, is Brazil’s main financial and capital markets infrastructure and one of the largest global companies in this segment. The company was created in 2017 from the combination of BM&FBOVESPA S.A. – Bolsa de Valores, Mercadorias e Futuros and Cetip S.A. – Mercados Organizados, bringing together in a single organization the activities of stock and derivatives exchange and the registration and custody of fixed-income securities and financing. The merger consolidated a vertically integrated business model with a strong technology base and a focus on operational efficiency and risk management, and marked a consolidation of Brazil’s capital markets infrastructure into a single listed company whose shares are widely traded on the cash equities market.

B3’s core activity is the management of organized securities markets, both in exchange and in organized over-the-counter environments. The company operates trading, clearing, settlement and registration systems for different asset classes, including equities, private fixed income, interest rate, FX, inflation and commodity derivatives, as well as structured transactions. In these markets, B3 also provides central securities depository services, acting as book-entry custodian and handling corporate events for the assets, and acts as central counterparty in various transactions, interposing itself between buyers and sellers and mitigating settlement risk. This set of activities positions the company as critical infrastructure for the day-to-day functioning of the Brazilian financial market, with revenues derived from trading, post-trading, custody, registration and fees related to issuer listing and public offerings.

B3’s businesses are organized into operating segments that reflect its main revenue lines. In the Listed – Equities and variable income instruments segment, the company offers integrated trading, central counterparty, clearing, settlement and depository services for equities, BDRs, options and derivatives on stocks and indices. Compensation in this segment is predominantly based on percentages of the traded notional value and on per-contract revenues in derivatives, in addition to custody fees and securities lending service fees. In the Listed – Interest rates, currencies and commodities segment, B3 manages financial derivative contracts linked to Brazilian real interest rates, exchange rates, inflation, as well as commodity derivatives and spot FX, charging registration fees, exchange fees, position and settlement fees that make up per-contract revenue. In the OTC segment, the company registers and safekeeps corporate and banking fixed-income instruments, over-the-counter derivatives and other assets, including debentures, promissory notes, CRIs, CRAs, fund shares and agribusiness securities, and operates Tesouro Direto in partnership with the National Treasury.

Beyond its direct activities in securities markets, B3 has developed an important financing infrastructure arm, focused on auto, real estate and insurance credit. Through integrated electronic systems, the company centralizes information on vehicle liens in the National Lien System (Sistema Nacional de Gravames), offers platforms for sending and providing credit information among financial institutions, traffic authorities and the Central Bank, and maintains a real estate platform focused on property valuation, as well as contract and collateral registration. In this context, it also operates as a trade repository for insurance transactions, accredited by the Private Insurance Superintendence (Superintendência de Seguros Privados), through the Insurconnect system. These activities broaden B3’s revenue diversification beyond the strict exchange market, anchored in service contracts with financial agents and in fees for registration, maintenance and information queries.

Recent diversification has included expansion into technology, data and analytics, following a global exchange trend. B3 has consolidated a Technology, Data and Services segment, which includes trading stations, high-capacity connections, servers for trading desks, licensing of OTC registration systems and market data services in real time, delayed or end of day. The company began to leverage the intelligence generated by the data flowing through its systems, supported by acquisitions such as Neoway and Neurotech, which specialize in big data, artificial intelligence and machine learning, to offer analytical solutions to financial institutions, credit providers and retailers, as well as KYC, compliance and anti-money laundering services. The creation of the Dimensa joint venture in partnership with TOTVS strengthened its offering of software and SaaS solutions for the financial segment, while the B3 Digitas structure and the L4 Venture Builder vehicle expanded its presence in digital assets and in the innovation ecosystem for financial services.

B3 operates in a highly regulated market and is supervised by different government bodies. In the securities sphere, its activities are mainly regulated by the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM), the National Monetary Council and the Central Bank of Brazil, with classification under the Brazilian Payment System legislation for its systemically important clearing and settlement houses. In the insurance, pension and capitalization markets, the relevant regulation is issued by the Private Insurance Superintendence, while activities related to vehicle financing involve interaction with the National Traffic Secretariat, which is responsible for registering encumbrances on automobiles. As a market operator, trade repository and central securities depository, B3 also holds normative and supervisory powers over participants with access to its systems, establishing rules of conduct, operational standards, mechanisms to mitigate default risk and applying penalties in case of non-compliance with rules, complementing government supervision.

B3’s business model is technology-intensive and depends on high-capacity, low-latency platforms. The company invested in the PUMA Trading System, developed in partnership with CME Group, as a multi-market, multi-asset electronic trading platform for equities, derivatives and private fixed income. Over the years, this system has undergone infrastructure and functionality upgrades, such as processing improvements, real-time risk assessment models and interaction mechanisms among order books. In post-trading, the company implemented B3 Clearinghouse, which integrates registration, clearing, settlement and risk management for several asset classes, supported by the RTC software and the CORE risk model, allowing for unified collateral management and risk calculation across multiple markets. This integration resulted in efficiency gains in collateral allocation and reinforced B3’s position as the core infrastructure for the Brazilian capital markets.

On the social and stakeholder relations front, B3 maintains initiatives such as B3 Social, aimed at supporting projects in health, food, micro-entrepreneurship and community businesses, having intensified its activities during the Covid-19 pandemic. The company also carries out organizational culture projects that emphasize closeness to clients, operational robustness and product development, seeking to align its activities with the evolution of the country’s capital markets. Internationally, B3 maintains representative offices in Asia, Europe and North America, focusing on institutional relationships and on promoting products and services to foreign participants. As a publicly traded company with B3SA3 shares listed on B3 itself, the company is part of the universe of issuers it helps regulate and provides the market with a unique case of trading infrastructure that is both the central platform for the functioning of the Brazilian financial system and a listed asset accessible to local and international investors.