London-based SecFinex has signed up ABN Amro, GNI, Nomura and Robeco as counterparts on its online order market trading platform, bringing the total number of firms using the securities financing system to 16.
Originally launched in June 2003, the system covers individual stocks in the major European equity indices. SecFinex has since expanded the product to include all non-index stocks and access to the Japanese equities markets, allowing participants to trade in the Nikkei 225. In addition, a new 'finance screen' enables counterparts to trade cash versus a range of collateral types.
All original participants continue to participate as counterparts and include BNP Paribas, Citigroup Global Markets, Dresdner Bank, Fortis Bank, HSBC Bank, ING Bank, Lehman Brothers and Société Généralé.
Mark Carton, ABN Amro Bank, says: "The addition of a live price driven system, we believe, is an important step in helping the equity finance market to further embrace electronic trading.
"This new market development is enabling our traders to participate in a broader range of transactions, the result of which is an improvement in market efficiency and transparency."