Neonet in BATS Europe Access Offer

Neonet, is to offer access to the new alternative market, BATS Europe. Neonet already offers trading at BATS US and will offer access to BATS'
European Markets division for its buy- and sell-side clients upon the platform's target launch in November.

Trading in Europe is undergoing a period of rapid transformation, and BATS Europe represents a new generation of trading platforms. BATS was launched in the US in January 2006 as one of the fastest-growing, top-tier equity markets - it has more than a 10 percent matched share of the US market - and is now expanding into Europe. BATS recently received approval from the US Securities and Exchange Commission to become a national securities exchange, and will go live as an exchange in October.

Mark Hemsley chief executive of BATS' European Markets division, said "We are pleased to further our relationship with Neonet and look forward to the significant order flow this agreement is likely to bring. BATS Europe aims to follow a similar roadmap to its US counterpart and we are excited about the opportunity to Make Markets Better here."

"As the global capital markets continue to evolve, you can be confident in Neonet to offer trading at the most competitive and liquid marketplaces. Neonet blends the order books of traditional exchanges and alternative marketplaces into a river of liquidity to ensure that transactions are made at the best possible price across multiple markets. We are thrilled to extend our relations with BATS as they bring their offering to Europe," states Simon Nathanson, CEO and President of Neonet.

Turquoise Ready for Trading on August 29th

Turquoise, the alternative trading system backed by 9 investment banks has passed another milestone. All of the 13 markets available for trading have now concluded their settlement cycles and effective settlement has occurred in each country. The validation of trading, clearing and settlement processes will allow members to begin to further utilise the Turquoise MTF across their businesses. Market making will now begin to increase and smart order routers that are being trialled with small volumes will be further employed. Trading desks will be given full access and client order flow will start to be sent to Turquoise.

This confirmation of the operational process also triggers important activities at Turquoise. The rollout of stocks will continue as planned and the complete Turquoise universe will be available for trading on Friday 29 August. As we enter full production trading we will continue the process of connecting software and market data vendors, enabling new trading members and working with EuroCCP to bring on new clearers and ensure a wide member base can access Turquoise efficiently.

We expect this build up in use, the rollout of the full stock universe and the growing number of trading members to translate into a trend of gradually increasing volumes that will continue throughout September and into the fourth quarter.

Dark Liquidity Trading

An electronic crossing network created to provide institutional investors with optimised execution for their Asian block trades, minimising both transaction costs and market impact. As a dark pool of liquidity, BlocSec gives traders the ability to place orders with complete anonymity, allowing zero information leakage into the market.

Alternative trading platform in dark liquidity. Developed following MiFiD. Founder banks are : BNP Paribas, Citi, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Société Générale.

Penserra Access for BIDS Trading

Penserra Securities, a New York-based agency broker for institutional investors, and BIDS Trading, the alternative trading system (ATS) designed to increase competition and liquidity in the U.S. equity block trading market, are pleased to announce an agreement that provides Penserra’s clients with direct access to BIDS Trading’s crossing system. The arrangement establishes Penserra as the first government-certified Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) to offer sponsored institutional access to BIDS Trading.

Since its start, Penserra has offered its clients, which include several large U.S. pension systems, access to the firm’s accomplished, trusted, single-stock and portfolio trading desks. Through its agreement with BIDS Trading, Penserra customers are now able to directly source block liquidity in the BIDS Trading ATS. This provides institutions with MBE targets a convenient way to boost their MBE use without forcing them to avoid direct-access options.

BIDS Trading, also based in New York, was founded in September 2006 by a consortium of twelve leading financial-services firms. Later this year, BIDS Trading and NYSE Euronext will launch a joint venture which will allow dark orders to interact with both displayed and reserve orders from the NYSE, in an attempt to improve execution quality and access to liquidity for block trading.

“We’re very excited to be able to provide our clients with sponsored access to the non-displayed liquidity in BIDS Trading,” said George Madrigal, managing director and co-founder of Penserra, and a 13-year veteran of Barclays Global Investors, where he served as a portfolio manager and head of transition management. “In addition to our brokerage experience, our management team has deep roots on the buy side, so we truly understand the value of direct access to a venue like BIDS Trading that allows for anonymous, block executions.”

“The connection of Penserra to our block trading facility furthers our goal of creating the most efficient trading venue and deepest liquidity pool possible,” said Tim Mahoney, CEO of BIDS Trading. “We are truly pleased to provide investors using Penserra with the ability to access BIDS Trading’s open, flexible platform.”