Chi-X Europe, a pan-European multilateral trading facility, is now trading, clearing and settling five of the top component stocks of Norway’s Oslo OBX 25 and Denmark’s OMX Copenhagen 20 indices. The platform plans to introduce the remainder of the indices’ names by the end of the month.
This follows Chi-X Europe’s addition of the Swedish OMX Stockholm 30 and Finnish OMX Helsinki 25 component stocks earlier this year.
Central counterparty services have previously not been available for Norwegian and Danish equities, but now, clearing and settlement for the Oslo OBX 25 and OMX Copenhagen 20 component stocks traded on Chi-X Europe will be centralised via Fortis’ European Multilateral Clearing Facility (EMCF). When trading these stocks on Chi-X Europe, trades will be settled in the VPS and VP Security Services central securities depositories respectively, and will be fully fungible for clients whether traded on Chi-X Europe or on the primary market.
Chi-X expects overall trading, clearing and settlement of the Oslo OBX 25 and OMX Copenhagen 20 component stocks to be cheaper on its platform than the existing market infrastructure. According to an analysis by Instinet Europe, Chi-X Europe’s majority shareholder, the trading, clearing and settlement costs of the underlying exchange is 0.45 bps in Norway and 0.55 bps in Denmark. This compares with Chi-X Europe’s trading costs of 0.05 bps per execution, based on a passive/aggressive rebate ratio of 50:50.
The first five Norwegian stocks to start trading on Chi-X Europe are: Norsk Hydro, Renewable Energy Corp, StatoilHydro, Telenor and Yara International.
The first five Danish stocks are: AP Moller-Maersk, Danske Bank, Novo Nordisk, Novozymes and Vestas Wind Systems.