Exchange pursues its wide range of innovative solutions for ETFs
Amsterdam, Brussels, Lisbon, Paris– 5 June 2014– Euronext, a wholly owned subsidiary of Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE: ICE), today announces the launch of the RFS (Request for Size) service for ETFs listed on its regulated markets as its newest initiative in a range of solutions for ETF trading.
The RFS service will enable market participants to request a price for large in scale ETF orders and consequently benefit from potential size/price improvement of the liquidity available on its Central Order Book (COB) at any moment of the trading session. Once a market participant sends a ‘Request for Size’ message to the Universal Trading Platform (UTP) of Euronext, it will be broadcast to all participants. Responses to the requests are made via ‘limit’orders of market parties, and integrated directly into the COB which makes them visible and tradable by all participants, including the RFS initiator. The service will be launched in Q4 2014.
Pedro Fernandes, Head of European Exchange Traded Products at Euronext, said: “The RFS service is an addition to the range of initiatives Euronext launched in 2014 to support the fast developing ETF market in Europe. The ETF business has thrived over the last years and the outlook for 2014 is very positive. In the first 4 months of 20141, we reportedthe strongest growth of newly listed ETFs in our market since 2011.The growth of Asset Under Management (AUM) of ETFs and its usage is set to continue as an increasing number of investors, both institutional and retail, are looking to ETFs as the product of choice to support their investment objectives.”
He added:“Euronext is committed to facilitate and accelerate the fast developing ETF market. To this end we launched a number of initiatives in 2014. Among them were the NAV Trading Facility for ETFs, the Multicurrency Trading Service for ETFs and we listed the first ETF with an international security settlement structure in continental Europe. All our initiatives were introduced to help the ETF market realize its full potential, and we will continue to do so.”
1 Jan-April 2011 / Jan-April 2014