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London Stock Exchange Group: Baikal Gains Regulatory Approval

Date 29/06/2009

London Stock Exchange Group today announces that Baikal, its pan-European MTF dark pool and liquidity aggregation service, has received regulatory approval from the Financial Services Authority.

Baikal’s phased roll-out will begin this week with the launch of the Smart Order Routing (SOR) capability. This will be followed by the order book and further functionality later in the year.

Xavier Rolet, Chief Executive of London Stock Exchange Group, said:

“I am delighted Baikal has received regulatory approval from the FSA. In line with our ambitious launch timetable, we have delivered the first part of Baikal’s solution for aggregating liquidity and solving the challenges of market fragmentation. We look forward to building on this important milestone with the launch of the non-display order book and further liquidity aggregation services later in the year.”

The launch of Baikal’s SOR service will help customers overcome fragmentation by providing best execution across 17 major European equity trading venues in 14 countries via one entry point, one connection and one clearing arrangement.