Bats Europe bemoans slow progress on clearing
A lack of competition among Europe’s clearing houses is holding back growth of the region’s equity market, the chief executive of ultra-fast trading platform Bats Europe said yesterday. Trading firms and exchanges are keen to offer clients a choice of providers in the hope competition will force fees lower – but the clearers have yet to deliver what is known in the industry as interoperability. “The lack of progress in the clearing landscape around interoperability has been a major frustration for us,” said Mark Hemsley, the chief executive of Bats Europe. “The lack of competition is holding back the growth of the European equity market.” Bats Europe, owned by a group of investment banks and high-frequency traders, has built a six per cent European market share since its launch two years ago, according to data from Thomson Reuters.