Chi-X Australia, the alternative trading venue scheduled to launch in competition to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) in Q4 2011, has selected a facility operated by Equinix as the primary data centre for its matching engine.
In addition to Equinix's existing carrier and financial network connectivity infrastructure, which currently provides low-latency proximity hosting options to financial market participants, the firm will open a new facility, SY3, in mid-2011.
Although Chi-X Australia's launch is subject to final government approval of its market licence application, the path was cleared for a Q4 2011 go-live when the Australian Securities and Investment Commission, Australia's national financial regulator, issued in March this year a timetable for implementing new market integrity rules.
Over the coming six months Chi-X Australia, a wholly-owned subsidiary of alternative trading venue operator Chi-X Global, is expected to finalise its clearing and settlement rules and ensure systems resilience, while also working with market participants to adjust their routing, back-office and market data arrangements and procedures to account for Australia's new multi-venue trading environment.
ASX, which was recently prevented from merging with the Singapore Exchange after the Australian government decided the deal was against the national interest, intends to introduce a dedicated trading platform for high-frequency trading, PureMatch, during Q3 2011.
“With the help of Equinix, Chi-X Australia will deliver the type of low-latency, high-performance, stable and resilient trading system that the Australian market demands,” said Peter Fowler, COO of Chi-X Australia. “Equinix is a key component of Australia's financial services ecosystem and should complement our expansion plans in this market well. The selection of Equinix's facility as Chi-X Australia's primary data centre represents a critical milestone, as we can now begin working with market participants to address their proximity hosting requirements and network connectivity needs.”
Chi-X Global, a unit of agency broker and technology provider Instinet, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nomura Holdings, also operates Chi-X Canada, Chi-X Japan and Chi-East – a joint venture with the Singapore Exchange – and Chi-Tech, its technology services unit. Instinet is expected to reduce its stake in Chi-X Global with the introduction of new investors in Q2 2011, but still retain a majority stake in the market operator and trading technology firm.
“The decision by Chi-X Australia to leverage our Equinix IBX facility as its primary data centre is a strong endorsement of our strategy to be the provider of choice for major capital market infrastructure and industry participants,” said David Wilkinson, senior director, Business Development of Equinix in Asia-Pacific. “We look forward to working with Chi-X Australia during this exciting period of growth.”
Equinix operates in 35 strategic markets across North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific and financial market clients include trading venues, buy- and sell-side firms, market data providers, technology providers and financial networks.