BATS Europe, the multilateral trading facility that entered the European market in October 2008, has confirmed it will offer sponsored access from 30 January 2009.
The move follows the introduction of similar functionality by the London Stock Exchange and Chi-X, both of which launched sponsored access on 5 January.
Sponsored access allows clients of trading venues members to connect directly to a trading platform, thus removing the need for broker intervention. Trades executed in this way are, however, still conducted in the name of the broker, which is ultimately responsible for ensuring buy-side traders adhere to trading venue rules. Sponsoring participants can offer clients direct connectivity to BATS Europe through proximity hosting in its data centres or via remote access.
The main advantage of sponsored access for buy-side traders is a reduction in latency resulting from the ability to bypass the broker’s system when routing orders.
“Sponsored access is in strong demand by our trading participants and we are excited to offer an enhanced range of features early in 2009,” said BATS Europe CEO Mark Hemsley. “The availability of sponsored access as an entry to the expanding pool of liquidity on our platform will add even more efficiency for European market participants.”