Turquoise chief executive Eli Lederman told delegates at the Mondo Visione Exchange Forum that the bank-backed equities trading facility will begin offering trading on 300 stocks across 14 markets on 5th September.

According to a Financial Times report, Lederman said Turquoise would begin offering a limited service for its members across Europe in August, before the launch in September.

The Turquoise platform is being set up by a group of investment banks to compete head-to-head with domestic stock exchanges in Europe following the introduction of the EU's Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID).

Lederman had previously told delegates at this year's Finexpo conference in January that Turquoise was gearing up to launch the equity trading venue in September, but wasn't able to give a firm date at the time.

The Turquoise service was orginally expected to be live when MiFID came into force last November, but the launch was delayed to the second half of 2008. It was reported that the delay was due to "the preparation of a lengthy and complex legal agreement" with a technology supplier.

However, the considerable launch delay means that it is likely that Turquoise will go live at the same time as competitor platforms developed by Bats Trading and Nasdaq OMX, which are also looking to take advantage of MiFID.