LSE confirmed in a member notice at 9:23 am this morning that it was investigating an issue impacting its trading system and that it was “undertaking immediate analysis”. Trading on all instruments other than FTSE 100, FTSE 250 and IOB securities was halted until 9:55 am when the exchange confirmed that it was set to resume trading at 10:15 am.

“Instruments will go into auction at 09:55 with uncrossing beginning at 10:15. All live orders remain on the system,” said the exchange in an update.

However, following the opening of trading once again with said auction the problem reoccurred. In an update at 11:56 am, the exchange confirmed the issue was ongoing and that it was continuing to investigate. 

In a later update, the exchange confirmed trading in halted securities was due to commence once again: “Order driven securities will enter into a re-opening auction at 12:20 with uncrossing beginning at 12:40. During this period, instrument status will be shown as Halted but customers will be able to manage their orders in the system.  After the uncrossing, the instrument status will be updated to Regular Trading.”

In its latest update at 12:43 pm, the exchange confirmed that trading on all impacted securities had resumed.

Read more: ESMA publishes recommendations for trading venues in the event of a market outage

It is the second incident of this kind to take place on the LSE in less than two months after it saw a similar outage on 19 October that halted trading in everything except FTSE 100, FTSE 250 and IOB securities which were still operational.

The outage is likely to spur on ongoing analysis by regulators globally over the stability and resilience of exchanges and procedures during market outages – specifically as regards their communications. 

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LSE specified that “the mirror process did not take over as would be expected in case of a hardware issue,” and that their investigations found the root case to be related to the Request For Quote (RFQ) functionality for Exchange Traded Products (ETPs).

Following yesterday’s technical incident, all LSE order book securities opened as normal today, however the RFQ functionality is temporarily disabled for all ETP securities as the investigation continues.

Explaining the empirical process following the episode, LSE confirmed that Partition 3 was restarted in order to expire all open orders back to customers after the restore, completed just after 4.45pm.

“Given this timing, it was concluded that the closing auction for Partition 3 instruments should not be operated and that closing prices would be generated from the system based on trading up to the point of the Halt,” said the exchange.

Read more – ESMA publishes recommendations for trading venues in the event of a market outage

LSE disseminated the closing prices for the affected instruments just after 5pm yesterday, following standard methodologies set out in its ‘Business Parameters’.

Most order prices were based on the last order book traded price on Thursday. This was due to the fact that there was no closing auction in impacted instruments and all orders and quotes in affected instruments were deleted during the recovery activity. 

The outage is expected to lead to a renewed interest from regulators as to how trading venues should reinforce their operations and communication systems to be more resilient and effective in the event of these market outages.

The post LSE confirms system outage linked to RFQ for ETP functionality appeared first on The TRADE.

As of 4.10pm today, LSE was still investigating the fault, The TRADE understands, with no word yet as to timeframes.

AIM stocks specifically are currently halted, with the exchange confirming that “orders in all other instruments currently halted will now be expired”.

This outage is likely to lead to a renewed interest from regulators pertaining to how trading venues should reinforce their operations to be more resilient to the event of market outages – specifically as regards their communications. 

Read more – ESMA publishes recommendations for trading venues in the event of a market outage

LSE is set to provide further updates through its live portal as it undertakes immediate analysis of the situation.

In June, SIX Swiss Exchange experienced its worst outage for over 10 years, halting trading for three hours, The TRADE previously revealed. 

Other previous outages include Nasdaq’s Nordic markets which closed on 16 November 2022 without an auction, while marketplaces of the European exchange operator, Euronext, also suffered a three-hour interruption to trading on 19 October 2020. 

Deutsche Börse also experienced two separate outages during 2020 due to software glitches. 

Read more – EU watchdog raises concerns on third-party reliance after exchange outages in 2020

The issue is also one present outside of the EU, with a software issue coinciding with the launch date for the upgraded ASX Trade system, provided by Nasdaq, which forced the ASX to shut down for four hours on 16 November.

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Walker originally joined LSEG in 2018 and has since served as head of equity and fixed income primary markets.

Before joining LSEG, Walker worked within JP Morgan Cazenove’s equity capital markets team, where he was responsible for originating and executing equity transactions.

Walker will report to Julia Hoggett, chief executive of LSE, and will join the firm’s board, subject to regulatory non-objection.

“Charlie brings deep knowledge of capital markets having worked at the London Stock Exchange for the past six years in addition to his time working in investment banking,” said Hoggett.

“Charlie and I share a passion for ensuring that our markets provide companies with efficient access to capital across their lifecycle. I look forward to delivering on our plans to enhance our financial ecosystem and the global competitiveness of the UK capital markets.”

Walker’s appointment follows that of Corentine Poilvet-Clédière, who was named chief executive of LCH Group’s Paris-based European central counterparty LCH SA.

Poilvet-Clédière will assume the role on 1 October, subject to regulatory approvals, and will replace Christophe Hémon, who confirmed he would be stepping down as chief executive of LCH SA on 1 October after nearly two decades in office.

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The London Stock Exchange completed a data centre and hardware upgrade of the exchange itself, Turquoise and TRADEcho services to a new dedicated facility in London in February, as a means of improving latency.

According to the exchange, the move has seen a 50% reduction in average round trip latency for the equities order book, as well as ‘outlier’ observations in the distribution reducing by 75%, LSE said.

LSE’s ETF order book has seen a 66% reduction in average round-trip latency, with outliers down by 80%.

“LSEG is delighted to confirm that it has successfully migrated its trading and market data systems to a new highly efficient, purpose-built data centre near Docklands, London. The new data centre will deploy the latest technology to continue to deliver high levels of performance, security and resiliency, for the benefit of our markets and customers,” a spokesperson for LSEG told The TRADE.  

Elsewhere, data from the trading venue has indicated that it has increased its FTSE 100 European Best Bid and Offer (EBBO) setting by 9% compared to the period before the data centre move – accounting for over 40% of all EBBO setting events.

“All of this means that our clients now receive confirmation of their orders more quickly and more predictably than ever before – translating into an ability to trade on the London Stock Exchange with more confidence and to enable greater access to liquidity,” LSE said in a statement.

Within the industry, a reduction in latency to reduce arbitrage has become a priority for institutions. Alternative execution channels that combat increased implicit cost and are less subject to latency arbitrage and distance, such as dark books, are likely to be more favoured by market participants.

Read more: Could exchanges’ data centre migrations leave participants subject to latency arbitrage?

Other trading venues have made moves recently to combat latency arbitrage caused by data centre migrations, namely Euronext, which revealed plans to launch a new dark trading service to reduce latency earlier this week.

The post London Stock Exchange reports halved latency following data centre migration appeared first on The TRADE.

Last night The TRADE hosted a memorable event at the London Stock Exchange in partnership with LSEG, celebrating women in trading and investment and welcoming back some of the first ever female traders on the London floor to celebrate 50 years since women entered the pit. For our second annual event (and the next in a line of many more to come), we were honoured and proud to host almost 150 women and their male allies for a unique occasion of female empowerment.

Kicked off with the closing bell ceremony, the event continued with a keynote speech from Julia Hoggett, CEO of the London Stock Exchange, followed by a conversation with three of the first female traders to enter the London floor – their memories of those early days back in 1973 were truly fascinating, and watch this space for a further exploration of their experiences.  

This was followed by a speech from Laurie McAughtry, managing editor of The TRADE, who presented the results of The TRADE’s first ever Diversity & Inclusion Survey – which, while encouraging in some respects, highlighted in stark data the ongoing disparity between genders in senior roles – and the paucity of women at the top of the trading tree.

A panel discussion on exactly this topic concluded the evening’s formal agenda: with Eleanor Beasley, COO, EMEA Equity Execution Services at Goldman Sachs; Eunice Zhu, head of derivatives counterparty risk (XVA) trading at SMBC Nikko Capital Markets; Laura-Jane Purnell, senior director and fixed income trader at BlackRock; Sally Francis-Cole, head of FX and equities trading sales at LSEG; and Virginie Saade, head of government and regulatory policy EMEA at Citadel, giving an honest and frank insight into their own journeys, and discussing both what barriers remain but also, what is being done right and what is working in terms of initiatives to support systemic change.

A drinks reception ended the evening, which will stand in memory as a compelling testimony to the strength and ability of the industry’s exceptional (and exceptionally talented) women, and – most importantly – their appreciation, connection and support of each other, both at the junior and senior levels. The TRADE was proud to host and support such a valuable gathering.  

The post A night to remember: The TRADE rings the closing bell at the London Stock Exchange to celebrate diversity in the workplace appeared first on The TRADE.

Nicolas Bertrand, the former head of equities and derivatives at the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) has joined

Bertrand spent two decades working across the LSE and Borsa Italiana, before the latter was sold to Euronext in 2021. 

He was also a board member of Turquoise for almost eight years. Bertrand began his career at Citi. 

Komainu was founded in 2018 as a joint venture from CoinShares, Nomura and Ledger. The digital asset player has since raised $25 million in a Series A funding led by hedge fund manager Alan Howard. 

Earlier this year, Komainu named Matthew Chamberlain of the London Metal Exchange as its chief executive officer before he surprisingly reversed his decision to stay with the commodities exchange. 

In September, The TRADE covered numerous stories about senior traditional capital markets executives leaving their roles for digital asset firms. Morgan Stanley’s global head of macro electronic trading, Thomas Restout, joined digital asset liquidity provider B2C2 as its new CEO of EMEA, while Wells Fargo also lost its head of electronic sales and trading, Peter Eliades, who joined crypto prime brokerage Floating Point Group. 

Komainu confirmed Bertrand’s appointment to The TRADE. 
 

The post LSE’s former equities and derivatives head joins Nomura-backed digital asset firm as CEO appeared first on The TRADE.

Euronext accounted for around 30% of the market share at the Close, reporting over €16.6 billion, up from around €2 billion from the day prior. The London Stock Exchange (LSE) took second place reporting €9.5 billion, up from just over one.

Nasdaq’s OMX, Deutsche Borse’s Xetra and the SIX Swiss Exchange took the remaining spots in the top five reporting €8 billion, just under €8 billion and €5 billion respectively. In total the top ten venues accounted for €51.7 billion during the Close yesterday, up from six the day prior.

Yesterday’s rebalance went the wrong way, with developed markets reportedly falling 100 bps and several market makers reportedly flagging trades going the wrong way. The rebalance that took place in November wasn’t much better.

The impact of the wider market has been strongly felt with many firms reporting a lack of liquidity because tracker funds from large passive institutions including Vanguard have bought up everything, sources familiar with the matter have confirmed.

Rebalances take place quarterly to maintain an index and ensure its composition remains updated and stays in line with its methodology.

Hedge funds focused on picking off rebalancing indexes such as Tudor have grown in numbers as of late as the business becomes more lucrative and as the passive market has grown.

The post MSCI rebalance sees closing auction volumes soar by 800% appeared first on The TRADE.

The Federation of European Securities Exchanges (FESE) has voted to exclude the Moscow Exchange from its association, stripping it of observer member status.

“FESE utterly condemns the Russian-led invasion of Ukraine. Our thoughts and unwavering support go out to the Ukrainian people,” said the organisation. 

The London Stock Exchange has also suspended 28 listings with links to Russia from its markets, with CEO David Schwimmer citing “the ability to run an orderly market”. The exchange said that it is “closely monitoring” the situation and “actively engaging” with other regulators.  

Yesterday, the European Association of CCP clearing houses (EACH) suspended Russian member CCP NCC, a subsidiary of the currently closed Moscow Exchange, with immediate effect. “Given the actions of Russia against Ukraine and in consistency with wider EU sanctions, EACH feels that we need to take action, both from the perspective of adherence to current and possible wider sanctions and to act in the best interests of our membership” it said.  

MSCI today confirmed that it would reclassify the MSCI Russia indexes from Emerging Markets to Standalone Markets status, following through on its earlier threat. The reclassification decision will be implemented in one step across all MSCI Indexes, including standard, custom and derived indexes, at a price that is effectively zero, as of the close of 9 March. 

The move followed MSCI’s market consultation earlier this week, which resulted in a resounding consensus against Russia.  

“MSCI received feedback from a large number of global market participants, including asset owners, asset managers, broker dealers, and exchanges, with an overwhelming majority confirming that the Russian equity market is currently uninvestable and that Russian securities should be removed from the MSCI Emerging Markets Indexes,” said the agency. 

On Tuesday, Deutsche Börse halted trading in all Russian names, indefinitely. The exchange today also announced that together with the securities trading banks operating on the Frankfurt trading floor, all transaction and trading fees collected from Börse Frankfurt on Friday 4 March would be donated to Ukraine through the ‘Voices of Children’ charity.  

“Our thoughts are with everyone affected by the war in Ukraine. Respect for the rule of law and international principles is the basis for our coexistence in a globalized world. As a company, we stand up for these values,” said Thomas Book, member of the Executive Board of Deutsche Börse.  

This chimes with a number of other entities who have also committed their fees to the cause, including Jefferies Investment Bank, which yesterday donated 100% of its net trading revenue to Ukrainian humanitarian relief.  

The post Exchanges and agencies turn their backs on ‘uninvestable’ Russia appeared first on The TRADE.

Julia Hoggett joins the London Stock Exchange Group as CEO of the exchange business from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) where she worked for nearly seven years, most recently as market oversight director.

She replaces Nikhil Rathi who was recently appointed CEO of the FCA after six years leading the exchange and serving as director of international development. Denzil Jenkins will continue as interim CEO of LSE until Hoggett joins to ensure a smooth transition.

“Having spent my entire career in capital markets, I know the key role they play in providing vital capital to companies and institutions and delivering returns for individual and institutional investors,” commented Hoggett on her appointment. 

“I am delighted to be joining London Stock Exchange plc, and the wider group, at a time when London’s role as a global financial centre is so important. Clean and transparent markets are the underpinning of a vibrant and dynamic marketplace and will remain a huge focus.”

Hoggett worked in several divisions at Bank of America Merrill Lynch across four years including head of covered bonds and financial institutions groups flow financing for EMEA. She began her career at JP Morgan as an investment banker in debt capital markets.

The senior appointment at LSE follows the launch of Turquoise Europe, the London Stock Exchange Group’s (LSEG) European trading venue, on 30 November to continue servicing clients once the Brexit transition comes to an end.

“Julia brings to the Group a deep understanding of primary and secondary markets from both the regulatory and commercial sector. I look forward to working with Julia as we continue to build on our position as a leading financial markets infrastructure business and the world’s international exchange,” added Murray Roos, group director of capital markets at the LSEG.

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