Plato Partnership enters “exclusive” deal with Turquoise
The Plato Partnership has chosen Turquoise as it’s preferred partner
The Plato Partnership, a consortium of asset managers and broker-dealers working to build a non-profit equities trading utility in Europe, has chosen the London Stock Exchange’s Turquoise subsidiary as its preferred partner, and the two companies announced they are exploring a “commercial collaboration”.
Plato is a trading utility that aims to provide a one-stop shop for anonymous block trades. It will be open to all market participants with the aim of reducing trading costs, simplifying the market structure, creating deep liquidity opportunities and delivering an equal trading experience for all market participants.
“Turquoise is delighted that both the buy side and sell side representatives of Plato have chosen Turquoise as their preferred partner,” said a spokesperson for the LSE. “We believe Turquoise’s track record of innovation and commitment to customer partnership will be invaluable to the trading services we develop together. We look forward to working collaboratively with Plato and its buy and sell side members based on our shared values and commitment to improving market structures and execution efficiency.“
“We believe Turquoise meets our key criteria for a partner having displayed a secure and rapid route to market, demonstrable innovation, and an alignment with our guiding principles leading to their strong desire to work collaboratively,” added Stephen McGoldrick, project director for the Plato Partnership.
Plato Partnership says it will use the revenue generated from its trading utility to commission academic research focusing on better trade execution and lowering execution costs. The platform is an attempt to mutualise the governance of equity execution across its participants. Existing members include Deutsche Asset and Wealth management, Norges Bank Investment Management, UBS, Barclays, Citi, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley.
“Having the opportunity to get involved with Plato Partnership at such an early stage is very exciting for us,” said Paul Squires, head of trading at AXA Investment Managers. “The prospect of guiding the sell side towards the launch of a not-for-profit project such as this is unique – I don’t believe that the buy and sell side have ever worked together in this way before, and we are proud to be a part of that.”
“Plato’s vision of a Market Structure Innovation Centre that sponsors academic research working alongside a trading utility to deliver on the resultant insight is thrilling for us and ultimately beneficial for our clients,” added Christoph Hock, head of trading at Union Investment. “We believe that supporting such a positive initiative is part of the stewardship obligation that we hold on behalf of our clients.”
