Regions

BATS Global Markets, the operator of US equities exchange BATS, has announced plans to launch a US equity options exchange, and is targeting live trading on the platform in early 2010.

Ned Phillips, CEO of Asian dark pool BlocSec, has acknowledged that plans to bring sell-side liquidity on stream are taking longer than expected, but he denied that the crossing network had stopped taking on new clients.

While the industry has largely applauded last week’s agreement between exchanges, multilateral trading facilities (MTFs) and brokers to harmonise tick sizes across Europe, many acknowledge it is only a first step, and more effort is needed to create true unity.

Global investment bank Credit Suisse has appointed a new head of capital services in Asia-Pacific in an attempt to reconnect with its hedge fund client base in the region.

Lee Porter, formerly head of member services in Asia for Liquidnet, has replaced David Klinger as head of the buy-side crossing network’s Asian operations.

BNP Paribas has pushed back the Hong Kong launch of its proprietary dark pool, BNP Paribas Internal eXchange (BIX), to Q4 this year because of a longer-than-expected approval process, according to Quentin Limouzi, the bank’s execution product head for Asia and Japan.

Bolsas y Mercados Españoles (BME), the Spanish stock exchange, has announced that it will transfer the remaining shares traded by open outcry to an electronic system.

Central securities depositories (CSDs) from 21 European countries will indicate their commitment to the European Central Bank’s TARGET2-Securities (T2S) centralised settlement infrastructure next week, according to Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell, a member of the bank’s executive board.

Investment management consultancy Investit has released a new integrated benchmarking tool to allow asset management firms to compare their processes with their peers and industry best practice.

Pipeline Financial Group, an operator of equity block trading venues in the US and Europe, has appointed Richard Gray as senior salesperson for its European operations as it moves ahead with its launch schedule in the region.