Soon-to-be-floated exchange operator Euronext has announced it is to launch a Request For Size service for exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on its four regulated markets in Europe.
Once launched, the Request for Size (RFS) service can be used on the Euronext exchanges in Amsterdam, Brussels, Lisbon and Paris.
Euronext said it plans to launch RFS in Q4 this year.
The RFS service will allow market participants to request a price for large in scale ETF orders.
The benefit of this could be felt in potential size/price improvement of the liquidity available on its central order book at any moment of the trading session.
Once a market participant sends a ‘Request for Size’ message to Euronext’s Universal Trading Platform, it will be broadcast to all participants.
Responses to the requests are made via limit orders of market participants and integrated directly into the central order book which makes them visible and tradable by all participants, including the RFS initiator.
Pedro Fernandes, head of European exchange traded products at Euronext, said: “The ETF business has thrived over the last years and the outlook for 2014 is very positive.”
Fernandes said that in the first four months of 2014, Euronext experienced the strongest growth in newly-listed ETFs since 2011.
“The growth of Asset Under Management (AUM) of ETFs and its usage is set to continue as an increasing number of investors, both institutional and retail, are looking to ETFs as the product of choice to support their investment objectives,” said Fernandes.
Statistics on the Euronext website showed that in February there were 138,563 ETF trades, worth €500.25 million, with March rising to 151,606 trades worth €555.5 million.
Euronext will be floated as an independent European exchange operator by owner InterContinental Exchange later this year.