UPDATE: Nasdaq OMX Europe To Launch Pan-European 'Dark Pool'
March 17 2009 - 11:40AM
Dow Jones News
Nasdaq OMX (NDAQ) announced Tuesday plans to launch a European
"dark pool," granting the exchange company a berth in the battle
for massive stock trades in Europe.
Dark pools are private markets in which buyers and sellers
connect and trade large blocks of equities anonymously.
Aimed at high-frequency trading shops, Nasdaq OMX Europe's
planned dark pool platform, Neuro Dark, is set to launch April 27,
trading about 800 European blue-chip stocks, according to the
company.
The announcement follows a similar platform from rival NYSE
Euronext (NYX) called SmartPool that went live in early February,
backed by three major banks.
The London Stock Exchange (LSE.LN) has its own dark pool effort
called Baikal in the works, which was delayed following the
collapse of Lehman Brothers (LEHMQ), the LSE's partner in the
venture.
The U.S. brokerage Knight Capital Group (NITE) and Pipeline, a
New York-based dark pool operator, also have European platforms set
to launch this year.
Neuro Dark, which awaits regulatory approval from the U.K.
Financial Services Authority, will operate on the same technology
powering Nasdaq OMX's European multi-lateral trading facility
Nasdaq OMX Europe.
Trades will be cleared through the European Multilateral
Clearing Facility; Nasdaq OMX bought a 22% stake in the
clearinghouse in early February.
Dark pools have been a small portion of overall European
equities trading, with late 2008 estimates putting their market
share at less than 1% of executed trades.
-By Jacob Bunge, Dow Jones Newswires; 312-750-4117;
jacob.bunge@dowjones.com