The chief information officer of the technology arm of the London
International Financial Futures and Options Exchange (Liffe) has
detailed how the organisation plans to generate revenue by
marketing its in-house technology assets.
Last year Liffe spun off its IT division as a separate company that
would be able to offer consultancy and hosting services. Mark
Hemsley, chief information officer of Liffe's technology business,
is now holding up a number of innovative IT projects as evidence of
the company's expertise.
Key challenges faced by the company include migrating trading
platforms from the Paris and Brussels Euronext exchange, which
acquired Liffe last year, and selling its Liffe Connect trading
platform to other stock exchanges.
The company is also playing a key role in supporting a joint
venture with US exchange Nasdaq, which will create a single stock
futures market. It is due to begin trading in June.
"We have supplied Liffe Connect to Nasdaq for matching," said
Hemsley. "We are putting in a number of new network connections to
new customers and connecting them to existing Liffe
customers."
Hemsley is also overseeing the transfer of the Brussels and Paris
derivatives exchanges to the Liffe trading platform. The migration
is due to be completed by early next year.
Last year Liffe signed a deal with the Tokyo International
Financial Futures Exchange to supply its Connect electronic trading
system. Liffe's technology business is now working with Japanese IT
services provider Fujitsu to install Connect in Tokyo. The platform
is expected to go live by early next year.
The trend for stock exchanges to sell their technology assets
gained momentum last year when the London Stock Exchange announced
that it was considering launching a subsidiary, fee-earning
consultancy, as a spin-off from its IT department. It later signed
an £11m deal to supply its proprietary trading platform to the
Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
However, Hemsley believes Liffe's experience will give it an edge
over other exchanges that are trading software and consultancy
services. "I think we have a significant lead on other
organisations who are starting in this market," he said.
nick.huber@rbi.co.ukLiffe's IT projects
- Transfering the Paris and Brussels Euronext exchange to its
Liffe Connect platform
- Working with Nasdaq to create a single stock futures
market
- Installing Liffe Connect in the Tokyo International Financial
Futures Exchange.