Posted in Clara Furse, Euronext, LSE, Liffe, London, London Stock Exchange, Project Turquoise
Recently we reported that London Stock Exchange chief executive, Clara Furse, attacked new rival on the block, Project Turquoise — a trading platform being created by seven investment banks — as non-viable.
Furse claimed the rival banks’ platform will not be able to compete with the LSE’s 4p fee from £1000 worth of shares purchased.
Project Turquoise responded, “We are very much on track to be up and running and reduce the total cost of trading for those who buy and sell sharesâ€.
Soon, however, PT’s seven founders, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, UBS, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse, will be joined by another, BNP Paribas of France. Already a formidable alliance, Turquoise now looks a true heavyweight.
Final details of the technology systems to power the platform are close to agreement. If the final result is cheaper trading — and it’s hard to imagine them coming in at a higher price — this will give the LSE a real run for its money.
The kind of complacency that saw London’s Liffe passing to Euronext right under Clara Furse’s nose, must not be repeated here.
Posted in Clara Furse, Ed Balls, LSE, London Stock Exchange, Stamp Duty, The Treasury
Clara Furse, London Stock Exchange chief executive, claims it is “not if but when” the UK Government will scrap stamp duty on share transactions.
Furse said: “The question is not if, but when. There has been a significant shift in the Government’s thinking about stamp duty following a recent report by think tank Oxera, which found that the removal of the tax would be revenue-neutral. Trading remains strong with positive momentum carrying forward into the current financial year. The proven international success and increasing efficiency of our market, underline the secular change to equity trading, as TradElect goes live this summer.”
At present, investors are paying 0.5 percent of the value of their transaction when they buy shares. The tax raises around £3 billion ($6 bn) a year for the Treasury.
It appears that the LSE is in discussions with Economic Secretary Ed Balls on how to take the proposal forward.
The Exchange’s headline profits jumped 55% to £186m in the year ended March, on revenues up 20% at £350m.
The Conservatives have already said they would consider scrapping Stamp Duty on shares if they came into power.
Posted in Clara Furse, LSE, London Stock Exchange, Nasdaq, New York Stock Exchange, Russia
London Stock Exchange’s chief executive Clara Furse has dismissed the rival trading platform, Project Turquoise, as possibly non-viable.
In a confident riposte to the group of seven investment banks seeking to take business from the LSE, she likened the new body to the London exchange’s previous mutual status when it was difficult “to resolve the conflicts of interest that exist when only one part of the market controls the trading platform”.
London remains the most successful of the world’s stock exchanges, raising £54 billion ($105 bn) last year, twice what Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange managed between them. The LSE’s profits rose 73 percent in the same period, with both buoyant Russia and China piling into the light-touch trading regime which is situated in a congenial timezone for their operations.
Furse also believes the rival banks’ platform will not be able to compete with the LSE’s 4pence fee from £1000 worth of shares purchased.
Project Turquoise responded, “We are very much on track to be up and running and reduce the total cost of trading for those who buy and sell shares”.
This summer the LSE will unveil its own new platform, TradElect.
Posted in Clara Furse, Deutsche Borse, Euronext, ISE, LSE, Liffe, London Stock Exchange, Nasdaq, New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange-Euronext deal is all but tied up, and Nasdaq is still rubbing its wounds after losing its battle to buy the London Stock Exchange.
Another disappointed suitor, however, has hit back with a major purchase. Deutsche Borse is to pay £1.4 billion for the International Securities Exchange, an options trading platform, based in New York.
The deal will beef up the German exchange’s Eurex derivative platform — a joint enterprise with Swiss exchange SWX. It also smartly tucks away mony the hedge funds were asking to be returned to them.
And what is the LSE doing amid this flurry of activity? Clara Furse is stoutly concentrating on internal matters, like the EDX, its challenger to Liffe which escaped her clutches a few years ago.
Independence means independence then!
