European BrokerDealers Band Together For Equity Trading Platform

Traders-at-the-DAX-index--007Brokerdealer.com blog update courtesy of Will Hadfield of Bloomberg.

Six banks are developing a new not-for-profit platform to trade European equities called Plato Partnership Ltd.

Barclays Plc (BARC), Citigroup Inc. (C), Deutsche Bank AG (DBK), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley (MS) plan to use the venue to reduce trading costs, increase transparency and simplify markets, according to a statement.

“The platform would seek to ensure market integrity and the protection of orders with the goal of ensuring fairness for all participants,” the consortium said in the statement.

The banks intend to set up the trading venue under a trust, or similar structure, to prevent them from reneging on the principles at a later date. They will spend any profit from the platform on academic research designed to improve Europe’s market structure.

Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management and Norges Bank Investment Management have also joined Plato Partnership.

“We feel that the time is right to launch this proposition, which would seek to enhance the market by delivering additional liquidity and functionality to market participants,” Stephen McGoldrick, Plato’s project director, said.

Brokerdealer.com can provide you with the ability to work with the above mentioned brokerdealers on the new equity trading platform they have created through one of Brokerdealer.com’s many databases.

For the original copy of Hadfield’s article from Bloomberg, click here

 

 

Europe’s BrokerDealers Battle For Role in New Bitcoin ETF

marketsmuseBrokerDealer.com blog update courtesy of MarketsMuse.com

Coinfloor has revealed plans to launch a bitcoin exchange traded fund (ETF) and accept additional fiat currencies as part of its efforts to expand internationally.
Starting immediately, the UK-based bitcoin exchange is allowing customers to make deposits in US dollars, euros and Polish zloty, in addition to the British pound.

The company framed the move as a way for it to transition from a UK-only exchange to a global player in the wider market for bitcoin exchanges. Adam Knight, chairman and investor with the exchange, said: “By expanding to dollars, euros and zloty, we are expanding from a UK-only focus to an international one, delivering more value to our UK customers and growing our user base internationally.”

Amadeo Pellicce, CoinFloor’s chief operating officer, explained that the additional currencies were a logical choice for the exchange. “The XBT/USD pair is the most commonly traded pair, so our existing customers naturally have the demand to access the additional liquidity in that market, and we are expanding to euros to better service our European customers by supporting SEPA transfers,” he said.

While US dollars and euros would seem to support the company’s more global goals, the addition of Polish zlotys is perhaps less expected. However, it makes sense in light of its banking partnership – Coinfloor banks with Poland’s PKO Bank Polski, due to the ongoing reluctance of British banks to provide services for cryptocurrency-based companies.

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