Every year, the DSTA appoints a number of Primary Dealers, Single Market Specialists and Commercial Paper Dealers.
The Dutch State uses the services of Primary Dealers (PDs). These banks are appointed by the DSTA for trading, promoting and distributing Dutch State Loans (DSLs) and treasury paper (DTCs). A one-year contract is concluded between each PD and the State. PDs have the exclusive right to participate in DSL-auctions and have access to the repo and strip facility of the DSTA. Furthermore they receive a financial compensation depending on the amounts purchased during DSL issuances. Naturally there are also obligations. PDs are obliged to provide continuous bid and offer prices for DSLs, the so called quotation obligation. Another requirement is that PDs have to provide monthly reports on their activities on the secondary market.
Single Markets Specialists (SMSs) have the task to promote and distribute DTCs and to contribute to liquidity on the secondary market.
Additional short-term funding requirements are fulfilled through issuances under a Global Commercial Paper (GCP) programme. Commerical Paper issued under the GCP is sold through selected USCP dealers and ECP Dealers (together GCPDs). GCPDs are selected annually from the group of (former) PDs and SMSs.
The contracts and general conditions for PDs, SMSs and GCPDs can be found at the bottom of this page.
Primary Dealer ranking method
In 2025, the DSTA continues to rank its PDs based on a duration weighted system. The DSTA believes that a weighted issuance ranking provides the right incentives for PDs to achieve a balanced demand for DSLs across different maturities. Furthermore, the weighted issuance method optimally reflects the performance and commitment of a PD vis-à-vis the DSTA, given that bonds with a higher duration entail more risk for a bank and face more challenging market circumstances than shorter-dated bonds. The weighting factors for a given remaining maturity are shown below.
Weights for DSLs by maturity, to be issued in 2025:
DSL maturing in … |
Weighting factor |
2025 - 2027 |
2 |
2028 - 2030 |
4 |
2031 - 2033 |
6 |
2034 - 2036 |
10 |
2037 - 2040 |
12 |
2041 - 2047 |
16 |
2048 - onwards | 22 |
Ranking 2024
The primary market performance of PDs is reviewed periodically based on the abovementioned ranking method. DTC rankings are based on the unweighted purchase amounts in euro equivalent.
Ranking 2024 (source: Outlook 2025)
Ranking |
DSL |
DTC |
ECP | USCP |
1 |
ABN AMRO Bank |
Rabobank |
Rabobank | Citi Group |
2 |
Jefferies |
ABN AMRO Bank |
ING | Rabobank |
3 |
Barclays |
NatWest Markets |
JP Morgan | Barclays |
4 |
Bank of America |
HSBC |
X | X |
5 |
Citi Group |
Goldman Sachs |
X | X |
Dealers 2025
The dealers for 2025 in alphabetical order:
Name Bank |
PD |
ECP |
USCP |
ABN AMRO Bank |
X |
X |
|
Bank of America |
X |
x | |
Barclays |
X |
X |
X |
Bred Banque |
X |
||
Citigroup |
X |
X |
|
Goldman Sachs |
X |
||
HSBC Continental Europe |
X |
||
ING Bank |
X |
||
Jefferies |
X |
||
J.P. Morgan | X | X | X |
NATIXIS |
X |
||
NatWest Markets |
X |
||
Nomura |
X |
||
Morgan Stanley | X | ||
Rabobank |
X |
X |
X |
Société Générale | X |