Technology is the force behind the liberalisation of the
stock trading sector with theMarkets in Financial Instruments Directive(Mifid) the enabler, according to the head of
Turquoise.
Speaking at Finexpo 2008, Eli Lederman, CEO at
trading facility Turquoise, which is due to go live in
September, likened the evolution of the stock market to the
deregulation of the airline industry.
Turquoise was set up by leading investment banks to take on the
local stock exchanges. This was made possible in Europe by Mifid,
which ended the concentration rule that had previously meant that
local trades had to go through local exchanges.
Lederman said the deregulation of the airline industry had
increased competition in that sector in a similar way to Mifid on
the stock exchanges."Mifid is to trading what deregulation was to
the airline industry," he said.
"The emergence of new technologies is the important thing in
increasing competition. It is easy today to assemble the pieces of
technology required for an exchange."
Lederman said Turquoise has chosen not to build its platform
using off-the-shelf products, but has instead spoken to a number of
technology providers in its search for flexible technology.
It has already named Cinnober as the provider of its core
trading platform and Apama for its surveillance technology.