Turquoise Receives FSA Regulatory Approval
Eli Lederman, chief executive of Turquoise
Moving one step closer in its plans to launch in September, Turquoise, a pan-European equity trading platform created by nine leading investment banks, announced that it received approval from the United Kingdom’s Financial Services Authority (FSA) to operate a multilateral trading facility (MTF).
Turquoise noted in a press release that it was also granted a “MiFID passport” by the FSA, which clears the way for Turquoise to offer its platform to firms located in the European Union as well as all the countries in the European Economic Area, which includes Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.
Eli Lederman, chief executive of Turquoise, said, “Securing FSA authorization demonstrates our commitment to putting in place governance, people and technology aligned with our intention to provide a platform that deserves its place at the center of European capital markets.”
DTCC’s European subsidiary, EuroCCP, which was selected by Turquoise to be its clearing and settlement provider in April 2007, is in pilot testing with the MTF in preparation for the launch.
Turquoise looks ahead
Turquoise expects to begin trading on a limited basis in August with 70 stocks across 14 countries. At the time of its full September launch, the company expects that figure to grow to 1,500 pan-European stocks with about 60 banks and brokers signed up to use the system. The platform will integrate a dark pool and visible order book for the leading 300 stocks, taking advantage of crossing opportunities between the two.
The Turquoise investment bank consortium consists of BNP Paribas, Citi, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Société Générale and UBS. @