Reuters: Regulatory News: European market Aquis to charge flat rate to trade

Reuters: Regulatory News Reuters.com is your source for breaking news, business, financial and investing news, including personal finance and stocks. Reuters is the leading global provider of news, financial information and technology solutions to the world's media, financial institutions, businesses and individuals. // via fulltextrssfeed.com

European market Aquis to charge flat rate to trade Oct 29th 2012, 17:00 By Luke Jeffs LONDON | Mon Oct 29, 2012 1:00pm EDT LONDON Oct 29 (Reuters) - The chief executive of a European stock market launching next year plans to charge banks a flat rate to trade in a direct challenge to the main exchanges in the region. Alasdair Haynes, the chief executive of Aquis Exchange and the former head of Chi-X Europe, the largest pan-European stock market, said he wants to take a different approach to fees when Aquis goes live in the middle of 2013. "We believe exchanges need to be much more of a utility model and we plan to offer a new way of charging for trading -- on a per trade rather than an ad valorem basis," said Haynes. The main European exchanges charge clients fees based on the value of the trade whereas London-based Aquis's flat rate will be irrespective of the size of the transaction. Aquis is aiming to undercut incumbents such as the London Stock Exchange, NYSE Euronext and Deutsche Boerse, as well as Chi-X Europe, which is now owned by Bats Global Markets. Traders have questioned the logic of launching a stock exchange with European equity markets in the doldrums because of the global financial crisis and concerns about the future of the euro zone. "People have talked a lot about timing but this is a great time to hire," said Haynes. "So far we have seven employees, including our Chief Operating Officer Jonathan Clelland, who is ex-HSBC. We want to bring in at least another 17 people by the middle of next year, including a Chief Finance Officer and a head of regulation," he added. The Aquis chief is conscious the exchange will likely fail if it is just another version of Chi-X -- the company he ran for two years until he left at the end of last year -- and is looking to introduce some new features with his new venue. "We need to be quite Big Bang on the launch, we need market support from day one. We are having these conversations now but I believe in a hybrid market, that incorporates order driven flow for the top stocks and some elements of a quote driven market for mid-cap stocks," said the Aquis chief. Haynes said the exchange will open trading in European stocks, subject to regulatory approval, but will look to other products over time. "We are launching with cash equities but we are not going to be constrained by asset class, rather we are looking at all forms of cash, including commodities, gold and fixed income," he said. Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions