virt-x Exchange and NYFIX today announced a joint agreement to deliver a non-displayed block trading service for Swiss blue-chip equities. The platform will be owned and operated by virt-x and powered by NYFIX Euro Millennium, the neutral multi-lateral trading facility (MTF) being launced in Q1, 2008 by NYFIX International, NYFIX’s UK-based subsidiary.
As an exchange-based facility supervised by the UK’s Financial Services Authority, the block trading service will be open to buy- and sell-side market participants globally, and will offer a continuous matching pool for wholesale orders. Bids and offers will not be displayed to the market, say the firms. Executions will be anonymous and cleared via virt-x’s existing clearing and settlement infrastructure, and the existing public limit order book service operated by virt-x will remain unchanged.
Subject to regulatory approval, the service will go live in mid-2008.
“Given the rapid pace of change taking place across the European financial industry post-MiFID, this strategic initiative with virt-x marks an important milestone in our continued drive to offer innovative services to support our clients’ trading needs,” comments Howard Edelstein, CEO, NYFIX.
“By providing exchange members with access to Euro Millennium’s neutral pool of non-displayed liquidity, in parallel with its existing limit order book facility, virt-x is moving to the forefront in terms of market structure innovation,” adds Chris Smith, head of Euro Millennium and director of NYFIX International.
virt-x said that it selected NYFIX Euro Millennium over a number of other core technology providers because of business synergies between the two firms. “While virt-x has deep and long-standing relationships with the Swiss trading community, Nyfix and virt-x share many of the same relationships across the European Union,” comments Lee Hodgkinson, CEO, virt-x.
This partnership will allow the firms to capture substantial market share in Swiss blue-chip equities, according to Hodgkinson.