Chi-X Successfully Begins Full Equity Trading, Clearing and Settlement
Pan-European ATS now fully trading AEX 25 and DAX 30 indices, with clearing services
provided by Fortis; Credit Suisse's Advanced Execution Services begins providing externally
routed order flow; BNP Paribas approved as “General Clearing Participant”
Instinet Chi-X® Limited, a pan-European equity alternative trading system
(ATS), today (16 April 2007) announced that it is successfully trading, clearing and settling the component stocks of the
AEX 25 (Dutch) and DAX 30 (German) indices with the help of Fortis’ European Multilateral Clearing
Facility (EMCF) entity, a non-exclusive partner. With this phase of the Chi-X rollout in place, the
integrated system is now the first to offer trading and clearing services that completely bypass Europe’s
existing exchanges and central counterparty infrastructure.
Chi-X will begin trading the component stocks of the FTSE 100 index by the end of Q2. The other major
European markets will be introduced ahead of MiFID later this year. Chi-X has been in live beta
production since November 2006, during this time successfully executing trades from Instinet’s client
order flow.
“Chi-X is a completely open and MiFID-compliant trading platform, allowing institutional and private
client investors to access it through any broker that connects to Chi-X and becomes an accredited
partner,” said Tony Mackay, Managing Director of Instinet Chi-X Limited. “We strive to provide market
participants with an attractive alternative to trading on the incumbent exchanges, and it is also our
intention to make offers of equity ownership to selected participants.”
“Going live with Chi-X is a landmark moment for us, and we look forward to soon offering our central
counterparty services to more European markets,” commented Jan Bart de Boer, Global
Director Brokerage, Clearing & Custody at Fortis on the introduction of trading, clearing and settlement
in these first stocks. “We believe we will see a number of MTF initiatives in Europe with MiFID as a
catalyst, and have created the ‘European Multilateral Clearing Facility’ (EMCF) to offer such MTFs an
efficient and cost-effective pan-European central counterparty. Our clients have been asking for this, and
to date the incumbents have been either unwilling or unable to provide such a service, so we jumped in.”
Chi-X also announced today that Credit Suisse’s Advanced Execution Services (AES) trading desk has
successfully begun routing orders to Chi-X.
“We are thrilled to offer our clients the opportunities that a radical new service like Chi-X presents,” said
Richard Balarkas, Managing Director and Head of AES Sales at Credit Suisse. “We are confident that
increased competition between exchanges and other venues will deliver improved execution performance
and, ultimately, returns to our clients.”
Additionally, as part of Chi-X’s open access and non-exclusive model, Chi-X today announced that BNP
Paribas Securities Services has been approved as a “general clearing participant.” BNP Paribas’s
participation will offer trading participants a choice of access provider and at competitive prices
“It was a natural move for us to be involved in Chi-X. It is a sign of our commitment to be the leading
provider of clearing services for any trading venues, and it also enables our clients to take advantage of
new trading opportunities resulting from MiFID” said Patrick Colle, Head of Product – Clearing,
Settlement and Custody, at BNP Paribas Securities Services. |
