Credit Suisse says it has acquired a minority stake in Missouri-based ECN operator Bats Trading. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Credit Suisse is the third Wall Street firm in a month to invest in Bats, which is the owner of the Bats (Better Alternative Trading System) electronic communications network (ECN).
The platform, which launched in January 2006, is designed to handle high-speed, high-volume and anonymous algorithmic trading for broker-dealers. The system was recently averaging more than 40 million shares per day in trading volume.
Commenting on the deal, Jose Marques, director in the equity department at Credit Suisse, says: "Our clients will benefit greatly from access to an increased number of execution options as well as the additional sources of liquidity that BATS provides in the electronic trading space."
Earlier this month Morgan Stanley also acquired a minority shareholding in Bats Trading. That deal followed last month's news that investment bank Lehman Brothers had bought a minority stake in the business.
The Bats deals follow a number of other investments made by banks and brokers in regional US exchanges which have come about amid rising concern that the dominant exchanges in the US - Nyse and Nasdaq - could use their market power to raise trading fees.