PRESS RELEASE: BATS LIS, POWERED BY BIDS
BIDS ATS TO EXPAND GLOBALLY, OFFERING EUROPEAN EQUITIES TRADING THROUGH A LARGE IN SCALE NEGOTIATION FACILITY CALLED BATS LIS.
New York, NY – August 9, 2016 – BIDS Trading L.P. (BIDS), the largest block trading ATS by volume in the U.S., and Bats Europe, Europe’s largest stock exchange operator, announced today that Bats Europe has agreed to license BIDS technology to launch Bats LIS, a new block trading service for the European equity market.
Bats LIS (Large in Scale), which is subject to regulatory approval, is a large in scale indication of interest (IOI) negotiation and execution platform that will allow market participants to negotiate large blocks in European equities without revealing their intentions to the wider market. Bats LIS will leverage BIDS’ highly-regarded software, BIDS Trader, and buy-side channel distribution, combined with Bats’ infrastructure required for trade execution, clearing and settlement.
BIDS Trader seamlessly integrates with a buy-side trader’s Order Management System (OMS) and Execution Management System (EMS), so buy-side traders can access Bats LIS through their existing BIDS Trader GUI. Direct participants of the Bats Europe Exchange can also connect to Bats LIS via their existing Bats physical connections.
Bats LIS is designed to provide buy-side traders with protection against information leakage surrounding their IOIs through several unique features. First, Bats LIS provides a designated broker model which allows buy-side traders to maintain their important relationships with their brokers. It also brings together the block flow of both the buy and the sell-side, allowing for greater crossing opportunities. Additionally, IOI information disclosure and interaction is controlled by the trader via customizable trading tools, including minimum block size and counterparty score-carding and filtering based on past trading behavior.
Tim Mahoney, CEO of BIDS Trading, commented, “Global clients want global solutions. Partnering with Bats Europe allows each of us to bring our core strengths together to provide another piece of the global block trading market to our mutual clients in an efficient manner. Maintaining the important relationships between the buy-side and their brokers and successfully integrating the flows of each on one platform have been the keys to BIDS’ success in the U.S. Partnering with Bats Europe allows us to extend those benefits under the umbrella of the largest stock exchange in Europe.”
Mark Hemsley, CEO of Bats Europe, said, “We’ve listened to the buy-side community in Europe and understand their unique challenges in trading large blocks of stock and we believe that our new LIS service will help them better execute their large in scale trading activity. A complement to our existing order book offerings, Bats LIS provides the buy-side with a MiFID II compliant platform that offers IOI protection tools and full control over their IOI until execution to protect against information leakage.”
Under MiFID II, which is scheduled to come into effect on January 3, 2018, large in scale trading will benefit from one of the waivers enabling market participants to negotiate trades without the need for pre-trade transparency, thus protecting firms wishing to conduct business in large blocks from unfavorable market movements based on information made available in the market.
Subject to regulatory approval, Bats Europe will commence a phased go-live for Bats LIS by the end of the year. Bats LIS will have a competitive pricing model, which will be transparent and publicly available. Pricing details will be shared closer to launch date.
All securities admitted to trading on Bats Europe will be available for trading on Bats LIS, representing 5,500 securities across 15 major European markets.
Additional information is available on the Bats LIS section of the Bats website.
About BIDS TRADING L.P.
BIDS Trading L.P., is a registered broker-dealer and the operator of the BIDS Alternative Trading System (ATS), which was designed to bring counterparties together to anonymously trade large blocks of shares. Developed by a consortium of leading financial services firms, BIDS Trading resolves the classic paradox of the block trader – the need to find legitimate trading counterparties without prematurely revealing trading intentions. For more information, visit www.bidstrading.com.
About BATS GLOBAL MARKETS, INC.
Bats Global Markets, Inc., is a leading global operator of exchanges and services for financial markets, dedicated to Making Markets Better. We are the second-largest stock exchange operator in the U.S., operate the largest stock exchange and trade reporting facility in Europe, and are the #1 market globally for ETF trading. We also operate two fast-growing U.S. options exchanges. In the global foreign exchange market, we operate Hotspot. ETF.com, a leading provider of ETF news, data and analysis, is a wholly-owned subsidiary. The company is headquartered in Kansas City with offices in New York, London, Chicago, San Francisco, Singapore and Quito, Ecuador. For more information, visit www.bats.com.
Media Contacts
BIDS Trading L.P.
Zoë Norinsky, +1.212.618.2600
Email: zoe.norinsky@bidstrading.com
Bats Global Markets Inc.
Stacie Fleming, London, +44.20.7012.8950
Hannah Randall, New York, +1.646.856.8809
Email: comms@bats.com
©2016 BIDS Trading® is a FINRA Member Firm. BIDS Trading and the BIDS Trading mark are protected in the United States and countries throughout the world.