Project Turquoise, a European equity trading platform backed by seven investment banks, is unlikely to go live until the second quarter of 2008, it said yesterday. Project Turquoise initially anticipated being ready for launch by the end of 2007. Turquoise says the delay has been caused by lengthy legal negotiations with its chosen trading platform provider.
Turquoise also says it has chosen not to launch before MiFID is implemented on November 1 because investment firms will be busy focusing on complying with MiFID, on which many of them are behind schedule.
This news follows Monday's announcement by pan-European equity alternative trading system (ATS) Chi-X Europe that it is now trading FTSE 100 stocks. Chi-X Europe also offers trading in all Dutch AEX 25 and German DAX 30 component stocks, and will introduce trading in other major European markets before MiFID goes into effect, according to Peter Randall, director, Chi-X Europe. "Our early results point to an encouraging start in the task of attracting, servicing and maintaining significant new sources of European liquidity," he comments. The system traded €4.5 billion of European equities in July and on one day won almost a 12 per cent market share in the trading of Royal Dutch Shell.
According to a Financial Times report on Tuesday, several large banks backing Project Turquoise, as well as a few that are not, have privately said they are likely to use Chi-X as it offers the best price in the most liquid securities and is cheaper than its rival trading venues.
The report also notes that the delay in the launch of Turquoise may ease pressure on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) for reductions in its tariffs. The LSE, which has cut tariffs for this year, is to review its tariffs again in November.