Instinet Incorporated, a global leader in electronic trading and agency–only brokerage services, today announced that its European agency brokerage subsidiary, Instinet Europe Limited, has successfully completed conformance testing on NASDAQ OMX Europe. As a result, Instinet Europe´s institutional clients will be able to have immediate access to the multilateral trading facility (MTF).
"Successfully connecting to NASDAQ OMX Europe marks another major milestone in the continued development of our smart order routing capabilities," said Richard Balarkas, CEO of Instinet Europe Limited. "Instinet´s global client base will be able to access NASDAQ OMX Europe via sales traders, DMA or through our Instinet Execution Experts TM algorithms.
Added Balarkas: "NASDAQ OMX Europe´s launch heralds an important new phase of competition amongst Europe´s traditional exchanges and new MTFs, and should provide improved liquidity and prices to the international trading community. As an agency broker whose sole mission is to achieve a high–quality trade execution for our clients, we wish NASDAQ OMX Europe every success."
Commenting on the announcement, Charlotte Crosswell, President at Nasdaq OMX Europe added, "We are delighted that a broker with the international stature of Instinet will be connected from day one. We are confident that access to our liquidity pool will offer price improvement opportunities for Instinet´s international client base."
Instinet Europe Limited is one of Europe´s largest agency brokerages and is a top 10 broker by market share ranking on the London Stock Exchange year to date1. The firm employs more than 40 sales and trading personnel in four European locations. Instinet Europe provides its clients with a comprehensive suite of trading services that includes agency sales trading, global portfolio trading, algorithmic trading/DMA, smart order routing, commission management and its BlockMatch® MTF.
About Instinet
Instinet is an electronic trading pioneer, having established the world´s first significant electronic trading venue in 1969, one of the first recognized U.S. ECNs in 1997 and the first pan–European MTF in 2007. Through its subsidiaries and affiliates, Instinet operates two distinct business lines: a global network of agency–only brokers that seek to help institutions lower overall trading costs and improve investment performance through the use of innovative electronic trading products, including smart–routing, algorithms, DMA, dark pools and EMS platforms, and also provide sales trading, commission management services and independent research; and the Chi–X® trading systems, which aim to improve the efficiency of capital markets globally by providing high–performance, low–cost alternative execution venues. Instinet is a wholly–owned subsidiary of Nomura Holdings, Inc. For more information, please visit www.instinet.com.
About NASDAQ OMX Europe
NASDAQ OMX Europe, scheduled to commence trading on September 26, 2008, will be the first platform to connect European liquidity pools with Pan–European routing. Following the launch, NASDAQ OMX Europe will trade approximately 600 securities including constituents of the main European indices, ETFs and other highly liquid securities. For more information about NASDAQ OMX, Europe visit http:/www.nasdaqomxeurope.com/.
About NASDAQ OMX Group
The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. is the world´s largest exchange company. It delivers trading, exchange technology and public company services across six continents, and with over 3,900 companies, it is number one in worldwide listings among major markets. NASDAQ OMX offers multiple capital raising solutions to companies around the globe, including its U.S. listings market; the OMX Nordic Exchange, including First North; and the 144A PORTAL Market. The company offers trading across multiple asset classes including equities, derivatives, debt, commodities, structured products and ETFs. NASDAQ OMX technology supports the operations of over 70 exchanges, clearing organizations and central securities depositories in more than 50 countries. OMX Nordic Exchange is not a legal entity but describes the common offering from NASDAQ OMX exchanges in Helsinki, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Iceland, Tallinn, Riga, and Vilnius. For more information about NASDAQ OMX, visit http:/www.nasdaqomx.com/.
©2008 Instinet Europe Limited. All rights reserved. INSTINET is a registered trademark in the United States and in other countries throughout the world. Approved for distribution in Europe by Instinet Europe Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the United Kingdom´s Financial Services Authority.
1 According to the London Stock Exchange Reporting Service.
