Non-profit trading utility Plato Partnership has received support from four buy-side firms in a major boost to the initiative.
AXA Investment Managers, Union Investment, JP Morgan Asset Management and Fidelity Worldwide Investment have all confirmed their participation in Plato Partnership, which will use revenue generated to fund academic research into market structure.
They join existing participants, including Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management, Norges Bank Investment Management, UBS, Barclays, Citi, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley.
Paul Squires, head of trading at AXA Investment Managers, said: "Having the opportunity to get involved with Plato Partnership at such an early stage is very exciting for us.
“The prospect of guiding the sell side towards the launch of a not-for-profit project such as this is unique – I don’t believe that the buy and sell side have ever worked together in this way before, and we are proud to be a part of that.”
Plato consists of a non-profit trading utility for block trades, aiming to reduce costs and offer deep liquidity. It will operate alongside the Market Structure Innovation Centre, which will conduct research into better ways to execute trades and processes to lower costs ad improve the quality of the trading experience for participants.
Plato Partnership expects to launch in early 2016.