Russian financial services group Otkritie Securities has connected to pan-European multilateral trading facility (MTF) Chi-X Europe, to provide enhanced market access to Otkritie's clients.
Otkritie Securities, regulated by the UK's Financial Services Authority, offers direct market access to all the Russian markets from London, including MICEX, RTS, RTS Futures and Options, plus the London Stock Exchange's International Order Book.
The intended benefits of the deal with Chi-X Europe include improved efficiency of execution, clearing and settlement, greater access to the market and lower costs. Membership of Chi-X Europe is also intended to meet demand for trading Russian depository receipts listed overseas.
Chi-X Europe recently released Q1 2011 trading statistics that showed over €454 billion worth of shares were traded on the venue during the quarter – an increase of 24% over the previous quarter. Market share for stocks of the main indices remained steady versus the same period in 2010, with 27% of the FTSE 100 and over 20% in the Dutch AEX 25, Belgian BEL 20, French CAC 40 and German DAX 30 indices.
Meanwhile in an effort to expand access further, Otkritie has also partnered with multi-asset class electronic platform provider Marco Polo Capital Markets (MPCM) to provide clients with an interface to its network of emerging and frontier markets. With a single connection to MPCM, traders gain electronic access to Otkritie and a network of over 125 local brokers.
The Otkritie connection went live at the beginning of March 2011. In return, Otkritie offers the MPCM network a destination broker in Russia with execution capabilities for equities and derivatives quoted on the RTS and MICEX exchanges, as well as for Russian depositary receipts listed on the London Stock Exchange, EDX London and Deutsche Börse trading venues.
“Joining the MPCM network gives Otkritie access to a global platform reaching over 90 capital markets on which it can distribute its powerful execution capabilities in the broadest array of Russian securities,” said Nils Jahn, Otkritie's managing director of global electronic trading.
Otkritie currently offers global market connectivity and order routing from its offices in London, Moscow and Frankfurt. The firm strengthened its institutional equities team with three new hires, in January 2011.