The initiative, which is being launched in response to consistent customer demand for a competitive, low cost alternative for trading UK cash equities, is a natural fit with Euronext.liffe’s existing UK equity and index derivatives products. London is the only market currently where Euronext does not offer cash and equity derivatives simultaneously. More than 20% of Euronext cash equities screens are currently located in the UK.
The company believes it will be able to offer cash equity traders improved services functionality and lower costs. This will be achieved by combining its low-cost platform, proven technology, the cross-border structure of its operations and the ability to offer correlation with its existing market-leading UK equity and index derivatives suite of products.
The offer, which is part of the company’s long-term growth strategy of European consolidation, follows the completion of the migration and integration of all of Euronext’s businesses on to the same platform. The offer will use existing infrastructure wherever possible to ensure minimal disruption for users on migration. This will also keep costs down.
Trading will be done through the NSC platform which is used for securities trading on the Euronext markets in Amsterdam, Brussels, Lisbon and Paris. It is also used by 13 exchanges worldwide. Clearing will be through LCH.Clearnet and settlement will be through Crest. It is intended to offer full fungibility of trades within LCH.Clearnet and Crest.
The consultation with our customers covers issues such as functionality, lists of stocks and specific measures to promote liquidity. The fees will be consistent with the most recent trends in members’ trading profiles. Euronext has reduced transaction fees by 30 per cent on average since 2001.
Jean-Francois Theodore, Chairman of the Managing Board and CEO of Euronext NV said today: “We are looking forward to offering our customers a wider choice of products at a competitive price. This is a logical next step for us to offer UK stocks to complement our existing range of Dutch, French, Belgian and Portuguese listed securities, as well as UK equity derivatives products giving customers seamless cross-border trading on at least 60% of Europe’s blue chip stocks. The Euronext solution is simple: one connection to one market, and one route to the same clearing and settlement channels that London market users are used to.”
