Turquoise ready for take-off

The pan-European MTF is set to launch

LONDON – Turquoise, the pan-European cash equity multilateral trading facility (MTF), will be formally launched by the European Central Counterparty (EuroCCP) on Friday August 15. It will launch with an initial coverage of 10 major British and German stocks. EuroCCP will deliver a clearing and settlement solution on a single platform with Citi's global transaction services business as its settlement agent, and BT Global Financial Services will host the platform.

Turquoise is a collaboration between Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) subsidiary EuroCCP and nine founding firms – Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Citi, UBS, BNP Paribas and Société Générale. Other participants include ABN Amro, Barclays, Crédit Agricole, Instinet, KAS and Lehman Brothers. Six firms are general clearing participants who will clear and settle trades for others, the rest are individual clearing participants who only clear and settle trades they execute.

"The Markets in Financial Instruments Directive and the Code of Conduct have been successful in unleashing competitive market forces and providing pricing transparency," says Diana Chan, chief executive officer of EuroCCP. "Since the European authorities announced their intention to allow new entrants for trading and clearing securities, established markets and central counterparties have slashed their fee structures – and more can be expected. We are committed to leading the way by being the low-cost, pan-European clearing and settlement provider to multilateral trading facilities as well as exchanges, offering them unparalleled efficiency, capacity, safety and business resiliency.”

Turquoise is expected to be in full production by September 5, trading in 1,300 equity issues across 13 European markets in seven different currencies. Institutions such as the London Stock Exchange, with whom Turquoise will now compete for business, have announced a cut in fees of 10%.