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NASDAQ OMX entered into a binding agreement to acquire a 22% equity stake in European Multilateral Clearing Facility (EMCF) from Fortis Bank, a central counterparty clearing house for European equity trading on exchanges and multilateral trading facilities, including NASDAQ OMX Europe Ltd., Chi-X Europe Ltd. and BATS Trading Europe Ltd. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval.
The ownership structure of EMCF will be opened to a select number of order flow providers and financial institutions.
Investing in EMCF allows us to provide a cohesive clearing solution to our customers and a cost and risk-efficient clearing model, Bob Greifeld, Chief Executive Officer of NASDAQ OMX said underlining that this strengthens the EMCF position as a leading European clearing house. “The appointment as CCP for the Nordic markets underlines the strong competitive proposition of EMCF”, he said.
NASDAQ OMX also announced a new roadmap for its Nordic equity market. These include the introduction of a central counterparty clearing (CCP) mechanism for cash equity trading, a 20 percent discount to be offered on the variable part of the trading fee to all CCP cleared trades, and a new trading platform.
Optional CCP clearing will be offered from January 2009. Full CCP clearing is planned to be in effect from June 2009.
NASDAQ OMX will implement a new trading platform in Q4 2009 placing all NASDAQ OMX equity markets on INET technology.