Aquis Exchange, the proposed pan-European trading exchange, has received approval from the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to begin trading as a multilateral trading facility (MTF).

Aquis Exchange chief executive Alasdair Haynes says: “We are very pleased to have received the green light from the FCA just a year after announcing the creation of Aquis Exchange. We can now forge ahead with the introduction of subscription pricing to the European cash equities market.”
 
Aquis Exchange was established in October 2012. Currently, over 90 per cent of European equity trading in each individual country takes place on only two exchanges. The aim of Aquis Exchange is to bring fresh competition into the marketplace in order to lower the trading costs maintained by the existing duopoly.
 
Aquis Exchange’s subscription pricing works on a similar model to that of the telecoms industry and is designed to encourage participation from all categories of professional trading firm. Users will be charged according to the message traffic they generate, rather than a percentage of the value of each stock that they trade. There will be different pricing bands to accommodate varying degrees of activity. There will be a very low usage band for small firms that are traditionally disadvantaged by the pricing structure of the incumbent exchanges and, at the other end of the pricing structure, will be the top category where usage is unlimited (subject to a “fair usage” policy).
 
Aquis Exchange has informed its prospective members that will hold a dress rehearsal on 9 November and, subject to a successful outcome, will subsequently announce a launch date.