BBVA has agreed to buy Société Générale‘s 50% stake in Altura Markets, their long-running Madrid-based brokerage joint venture, making BBVA the sole shareholder pending regulatory approval. Altura Markets operates as a specialist intermediary for listed futures and options, delivering execution and clearing services to institutional and corporate clients across fixed income, equities, currencies, and commodities, and holds membership on BME Clearing’s MEFF platform with access to numerous international exchanges. The deal is meant to fold Altura fully into BBVA’s Markets Services business, giving the bank a single, consolidated execution and clearing platform for institutional clients rather than a shared joint-venture structure. Société Générale will continue providing technology services and clearing house access to BBVA going forward, so the operational infrastructure stays intact even as ownership consolidates. The move reflects a broader trend of European banks unwinding capital markets joint ventures in favor of full ownership of client-facing platforms. 

BBVA to Acquire Société Générale’s 50% Stake in Altura Markets