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Wednesday, March 10, 2010

UBS to launch new electronic trading facility in Europe

Financial services provider UBS is to launch a “dark pool” Multilateral Trading Facility (MTF) to allow cross trading in Europe.

According to the firm, UBS MTF will work alongside the existing UBS Price Improvement Network (UBS PIN) by offering a wider array of liquidity to its members.

The MTF is still awaiting regulatory approval and will be based on a Central Counterparty (CCP) model, which will allow investors to mitigate certain amounts of risk.

Dr Robert Barnes, head of Market Structures at UBS Investment Bank, said: "As we developed the architecture and interactivity model for UBS MTF, we were committed to greater simplicity, lower transaction costs and reduced market impact.

“As a global bank and one of the top equities trading firms, we aim to leverage our broad and deep market experience to help us to bring innovation, quality liquidity and a unique value proposition to our clients.”

All completed transactions will be reported in real-time to Markit Boat following the trade.

Previously, global investment bank Nomura announced the launch of NX MTF in December 2009, the first broker-owned dark pool MTF of its kind.

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