NASDAQ OMX Europe commenced trading today just six months after announcing its intent to launch a multilateral trading facility (MTF). Trading has begun in 25 FTSE 100 stocks and this will be followed by a staggered roll-out of approximately 600 European securities, to be completed by the end of October.
Charlotte Crosswell, President of NASDAQ OMX Europe commented, "We are delighted to deliver our platform on plan within the aggressive timeframe we established. We are looking forward to delivering a better trading experience to investors as securities trading moves towards higher volumes executed at faster speeds. With our unique order routing capability, not offered by any other MTF, we have the capability to revolutionise the trading environment in Europe."
In connection to the NASDAQ OMX Europe launch today, the NASDAQ OMX Europe Index(SM) (symbol:NEUX) is introduced. The NASDAQ OMX Europe Index will be a market capitalized weighted index designed to track the companies traded on the NASDAQ OMX Europe marketplace. The Index will commence calculation with a value of 1500.00 today. The NASDAQ OMX Europe Index will be calculated in Euros and disseminated every 15 seconds.
NASDAQ OMX Europe customers speaking on behalf of the market:
Naseer Al-Khudairi, Co-Head of Cash Trading at Credit Suisse said, "We are excited to offer our clients access to NASDAQ OMX Europe and to be amongst the very first participants to trade on the platform. By adding NASDAQ OMX Europe as yet another destination to our smart order router, AES Pathfinder we will be able to deliver further improvements to our clients' execution performance. Ultimately our aim is to achieve the best possible execution for our clients through accessing multiple pools of liquidity in the most intelligent manner."
Stephen McGoldrick, Director Market Infrastructure at Deutsche Bank said, "NASDAQ OMX Europe's launch is another welcome step towards a competitive market for execution services. We wish them well with this exciting venture and hope their presence contributes to a more resilient Pan European equity market."
Richard Balarkas, CEO of Instinet Europe Ltd. Said, "Nasdaq OMX's launch heralds an important new phase of competition amongst Europe's traditional exchanges and new MTFs, and should provide improved liquidity and prices to the international trading community. As an agency broker whose sole mission is to achieve a high-quality trade execution for our clients, we wish Nasdaq OMX Europe every success."
Lee Cook, Head of Cash Equities EMEA at J.P. Morgan said, "In the rapidly changing European trading environment, J.P. Morgan continually monitors liquidity fragmentation and recognises the value Nasdaq OMX Europe will bring to our clients."
Andrew Silverman, Managing Director and Head of Distribution, Morgan Stanley Electronic Trading said, "NASDAQ OMX Europe will be an exciting addition to the European trading landscape, offering access to an ultra low latency platform and competitively priced liquidity."
Simon Nathanson, CEO of Neonet said, "The ongoing transformation of European trading landscape gains additional momentum today as NASDAQ OMX Europe launches. We are proud to offer our clients access to this new marketplace and the order flows that will follow."
Tim Wildenberg, Head of European Direct Execution Services, UBS said, "UBS continues to support new and innovative platforms that allow us to meet the needs of our clients. We see NASDAQ OMX Europe as an important offering and are delighted to be involved from the beginning with a platform that we expect to enhance execution quality for our clients."
