Instinet Incorporated, a global leader in electronic trading and agency-only brokerage services, today announced that its Instinet Australia Clearing Services Pty Limited subsidiary has secured membership on the ASX Settlement and Transfer Corporation (ASTC), which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), and has been successfully clearing and settling client trades for the past three months.
Instinet Pacific Limited, based in Hong Kong, secured full remote ASX membership in September 2007, which has allowed the firm to offer direct execution of ASX-listed securities to its global clients via its Newport EMS, ATS platforms, global algorithms and agency-only trading services. With the ASTC membership, Instinet can now offer its clients seamless trading and clearing services for the Australian market.
"This is a very exciting development for our service offering in Australia and builds upon the success we've seen in offering execution services to the Australian market, with robust volumes making it economically prudent to self-clear and in the three months since we have been self-clearing we have delivered significant cost savings to our clients," says John Fildes, Managing Director, Instinet Pacific.
"Additionally, given the recent and upcoming increases in capital requirements for Australian clearing participants, we will be able to leverage our strong capital base to offer third-party clearing services to other ASX participants," added Fildes.
"Finally, with the prospect of competing Australian marketplaces, clearing and settlement may also become more complex, and having our own operations will enable us to respond efficiently to any changes in the market," Fildes concluded.