Equities

Exchange group Nasdaq OMX and the Osaka Securities Exchange (OSE), Japan’s largest derivatives exchange, have signed a memorandum of understanding with the intent of forming a strategic partnership.

Turquoise, a pan-European multilateral trading facility (MTF) backed by nine investment banks, aims to expand clients’ clearing options once its current trading system upgrades make it Europe’s fastest alternative trading venue.

The ability to access fragmented liquidity is the key criteria for buy-side traders when selecting trading tools such as execution management systems and algorithms, according to a new survey by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA).

Japanese investment bank Nomura has launched onshore equity sales and trading in India, leveraging the local assets of investment bank Lehman Brothers that it purchased in 2008.

RHB Investment Bank has implemented GL Net, Sungard’s recently acquired order routing network, to provide direct market access to the Bursa Malaysia, the domestic Malaysian stock exchange.

Sponsored access schemes that allow buy-side firms to trade on execution venues under the name of a broker, introduce unacceptable risks for brokers and unclear lines of responsibility, according to Eli Lederman, CEO of pan-European multilateral trading facility Turquoise.

Equity trading costs in developed Asian markets increased by 100% – and leapt by more than 200% in certain other of the region’s markets – in the two years to December 2008, largely in response to heightened volatility, according to a study by agency broker and technology provider Investment Technology Group (ITG).

Data provider Markit will introduce a new pricing schedule for BOAT, its trade reporting and data service for over-the-counter European equities trades, from 1 May.

Swiss financial services conglomerate SIX Group has hired Christian Katz as CEO of its cash markets division and CEO of the SIX Swiss Exchange, effective from May 2009. He will also join SIX Group’s executive board.

Agency broker Bloomberg Tradebook has launched two new algorithms in Europe – Smart Order Algorithmic Routing (SOAR) and Lock-Cross Eliminator – which aim to help clients find and aggregate liquidity in the region’s increasingly fragmented equity markets.