Investment bank UBS has received permission the Financial Services Authority (FSA) to launch a dark multilateral trading facility (MTF), UBS MTF, for crossing securities in Europe.
UBS's new platform will offer mid-point matching based on the price of the primary market. The MTF will be accessible to all eligible market participants and is intended to be complementary to UBS’s existing internal crossing service for client orders, UBS PIN.
The UBS MTF will use a central counterparty clearing model that is designed to mitigate clients' counterparty risks and contribute to reduced settlement costs. Executions completed in UBS MTF will be reported post-trade in real time to trade reporting platform Markit BOAT.
“We’re pleased to have the FSA’s approval to proceed. This is a major step forward in our goal towards going live in the fourth quarter,” said Robert Barnes, CEO of UBS MTF.
UBS is the second investment bank to launch its own dedicated MTF, after Nomura reclassified its NX crossing network in January. The firm also holds a stake in Turquoise, the pan-European MTF majority owned by the London Stock Exchange.