BME says the proposed repository will meet the European Commission's objectives of providing an EU-centric data warehouse for OTC derivatives contracts.

The Madirid-based bourse says the project is expected to be completed by the second quarter of 2010 and will cater for a wide range of financial instruments, including bilateral securities lending, bank loans or credit claims as well as OTC derivatives whose underlying assets are fixed income, equities, currencies, commodities or others.

"The new service will initially be provided in Spain although it has a clear international orientation," says the bourse in a statement. "The system can in the future be shared with other markets or implemented by BME in other countries."

Such a move would put the BME up against the DTCC's Trade Information Warehouse, the utility-based service which currently holds most of the world's OTC products.