The Guarantee System in the Gas Market is based on the integrated management of guarantees ("netting"), namely the possibility of having in the Spot Gas Market (MPGAS), in the Intraday and Day-Ahead Market of the Electricity Market (MGP/MI) - if the participant is also active on the electricity market - a single net exposure covered by a single amount of guarantee, without any segregation between the markets concerned.

The MTE, MT-GAS, MPEG and PCE markets are not included in the netting, and therefore in each of these markets a separate exposure is determined for each participant, to be covered with a specific dedicated guarantee amount.

The guarantee may be single, bearing in mind the need to carry out the allocation of the guaranteed amount in the various markets/platforms.

In order to operate in the Energy Markets or PCE, Participants shall submit - alternatively or cumulatively - financial guarantees in the form of:

• first-demand bank guarantee issued by banks which are members of the professional association referred to in Article 13 of the Legislative Decree no. 385 of September 1st,1993, and which have a long-term rating attributed by at least one of the following rating agencies: Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services, Moody’s Investor Service and Fitch and DBRS. The rating must be at least BBB- of the Standard & Poor’s or Fitch ratings or Baa3 of the Moody’s Investor Service rating or BBB low of the DBRS rating (See. Art.70, paragraph 70.2 of the Rules);
• non-interest bearing cash deposit to be disposed on the bank account held by GME with the bank in charge of the Gas Market treasury service (See Art. 70, paragraph 70.3 of the Rules).

The bank guarantee, the model for modifying the guarantee or the related update letters must be submitted or sent (possibly by registered letter with return receipt or by courier) exclusively to the institute in charge of the GME’s treasury service, which, upon receipt, will put a date stamp with the time of receipt which will only be considered as a "submission date".

The annexes to be used for the submission of guarantees and related update letters must be posted according to the forms defined in the annex to the Natural Gas Market Rules and available in the specific "forms" section, under penalty of non-acceptance of the same annexes.

The address of the institute in charge of the GME's treasury service to send the bank guarantee is:  

In order to accept the bank guarantee, the issuing bank is required to send, a swift 799 message sent to POSOIT22ROM filling field 21 with “138-GME” and field 79 (free text) “ Si conferma che la fideiussione (o lettera di aggiornamento o lettera di patronage) n. …… di € … nell’interesse dell’operatore .... è stata da noi emessa in data .... e le firme ivi apposte hanno il potere di impegnare il nostro Istituto per siffatte garanzie ” (“We confirm that the bank guarantee (or updating letter or patronage letter) no. …… of € … in favor of the participant ... ... was issued on ..... and the signatures therein have the power to commit our Institute to such guarantees”).

The participant may at any time request the return of the bank guarantee in accordance with the procedures established in the Technical Rule no. 19 MGAS - Submission, compliance, allocation and return of guarantees.

The participant who wishes to post guarantee in the form of a bank guarantee to cover the financial obligation that may arise in the MGP/MI-MPGAS (netting markets), MPEG, MTE, MTGAS and/or PCE, can provide the bank guarantee according to the form attached to the Natural gas market Rules ( Annex C ).
Updates of the guarantee amounts already in place must be made by updating letter, in compliance with the form attached to the Natural gas market Rules (Annex D).
The participant who has posted a bank guarantee to GME, in compliance with the form set forth in Annex C of the Natural Gas Market Rules, may allocate this guarantee, by submitting to GME the MGP/MI-MPGAS (netting markets) - MPEG - MTE - MTGAS - PCE guarantee allocation form prepared according to the procedures defined in the Technical Rules (See Technical Rules in force no. 19 MGAS - Submission, compliance, allocation and return of guarantees). In the absence of explicit allocation by the participant, the whole guarantee posted will be used to cover exposure arising in the netting markets.

The participant who wishes to post a guarantee in the form of a bank guarantee to cover the financial obligation that may arise in the MGP/MI-MPGAS (markets in netting), MPEG and/or PCE, may post the guarantee according to the form (Annex E) attached to the Natural gas market Rules, and the updates of the amounts and/or the period of validity of the existing guarantee must be made by means of a letter updating the bank guarantee, in accordance with the form (Annex F) attached to the Natural Gas Market Rules. Moreover, the participant may alternatively or cumulatively post a guarantee according to Annex C as described above.
The participant who has posted a bank guarantee to GME, in compliance with the form set out in Annex C of the Natural Gas Market Rules, may allocate this guarantee, by submitting to GME the MGP/MI-MPGAS (netting markets) - MPEG and/or PCE guarantee allocation form prepared according to the procedures defined in the Technical Rules (See Technical Rules in force no. 19 MGAS - Submission, compliance, allocation and return of guarantees). In the absence of explicit allocation by the participant, the whole guarantee posted will be used to cover exposure arising in the netting markets.

The MGAS participant (possibly admitted to the PCE) who is also an ME participant and who has submitted a guarantee to GME, in compliance with the form set out in Annex C of the Natural gas market Rules, in force until the day before the operational start of the netting markets, may continue to use this guarantee for the purpose of submitting adequate bids/offers also in the netting markets:

- by submitting the bank guarantees according to the new forms attached to the ME Rules, and requesting the return of the guarantee originally provided, if specific conditions are met, or
- making those existing compliant through the specific letter modifying the bank guarantee.

The only-MGAS participant is not required to make any adjustment of the guarantees in the form of a bank guarantee on the date of the operational start of netting. On the other hand, this participant will have to make it compliant only if he/she/it is subsequently admitted to the ME or when he/she/it wishes to modify the amount of the guarantee with or without expiration and/or wishes to modify the term of validity and effectiveness of the guarantees with expiration.

For the forms of guarantees not compliant with the Natural gas market Rules in force from the date when the netting markets start operating, the participant may split the related amount based on the operations that he/she/it wishes to carry out in the markets covered by these forms of guarantees, namely between MPGAS and MTGAS.

The participant may allocate part of the guarantee provided to cover the exposures that may arise both in the MPGAS and in MTGAS, by submitting the guarantee allocation form (prenetting) between MPGAS - MTGAS according to the procedures defined in the Technical Rules (See Technical Rules no. 19 MGAS - Submission, compliance, allocation and return of the guarantees), including among other things the indications for the allocation of the guarantee (s) paid.

For more information, see the Operations Guide of the new integrated management system of guarantees in the spot electricity markets, MGP and MI, and natural gas.

The cash deposit must be made into the following bank account:

Banca Popolare di Sondrio
IBAN IT97 H056 9603 2110 0000 7220 X46
SWIFT CODE POSOIT22

Please note that the reason to be indicated for the payment is:
“deposito cauzionale infruttifero con facoltà per il GME di poterne disporre”.
("Non-interest bearing security deposit with GME's right to use of it".)

The participant may at any time request the return of the non-interest bearing cash deposit in accordance with the procedures established in the Technical Rule no. 19 MGAS - Submission, compliance, allocation and return of guarantees.

The MGAS participant, (possibly admitted to the PCE) who is also a ME participant and who has submitted a guarantee in the form of a non-interest-bearing cash deposit pursuant to the Natural gas market Rules, in force until the day before the operational start of the netting markets, may continue to use this deposit for the purpose of submitting adequate offers also in the netting markets, making the existing deposit compliant through the specific letter modifying the deposit to be sent to GME .
The only-MGAS participant is not required to make any adjustment of the guarantees in the form of a non-interest-bearing deposit outstanding at the date of the operational start of the netting, while on the contrary he/she/it will have to make it compliant only if he/she/it is subsequently admitted to the ME.

For more information, see the Operations Guide of the new integrated management system of guarantees in the spot electricity markets, MGP and MI, and natural gas.