Apr 27, 2012
Aritas closes European operations
Aritas, the
operator of a block trading venue, has confirmed the departure of all of its
London-based European team.
The venue
operator, formerly known as Pipeline, had seen little trading in its European
block crossing network, registered as a multilateral trading facility, since
its launch in May last year. Volumes sank further following a charge brought
against the firm’s US operations by the Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC) in October 2011.
In October, the
firm was fined US$1 million, after the SEC found that the firm failed to
disclose to clients that the vast majority of orders executed in its dark pool
were filled by Milstream Strategy Group, an entity trading entirely owned and
funded by Pipeline and managed by former Pipeline CEO Fred Federspiel between
2004 and 2006.
Shortly after
the charge, Marcus Hooper stepped down from his position as European CEO.
Since the SEC
charges, the firm has appointed former Liquidnet and ITG director Jay Biancamano as executive chairman and refocused its business on its Alpha Pro
product, which is designed to help the buy-side deal with difficult trades.
While confirming
the European departures, Aritas made no further comment.
Anish Puaar
+44 (0)20 7397 3817
anish.puaar@thetrade.ltd.uk