Berlin Börse takes over Equiduct

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LONDON – the Berlin Stock Exchange has acquired Equiduct. Equiduct and Börse say the move marks a repositioning for compliance with the November deadline for the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (Mifid) and to take advantage of the European directive’s impact to provide best execution. Equiduct, the trading name for Easdaq, will offer the first Mifid-compliant, integrated pan-European point of connectivity for trading services through Börse Berlin’s regulated market.

Equiduct brings to the deal a market model that relies upon an up-to-date electronic trading system, delivering a fast turnaround time. “Over the last year we have implemented Mifid-specific requirements in close collaboration with various buy- and sell-side firms across Europe,” says Rob Brouwer, Equiduct’s chief information officer. The Berlin Stock Exchange runs as a regulated market, with a broad range of securities and experience in secondary exchange trading. Both parties maintain that the partnership will be suited to competition in the post-Mifid European market.

“Financial market participants are facing drastic changes as a result of new Mifid requirements, which we believe will finally create a competitive level playing field for exchanges and trading facilities. In the future, customers will have the right to demand best execution from their intermediary. Best execution will require that the intermediary takes into account all execution venues, instead of just the domestic exchange,” says Artur Fischer, Börse Berlin’s executive director of strategy.