Société Générale Corporate & Investment Banking (SG CIB) has launched Alpha x Europe, a crossing network which matches clients' buy and sell orders on a particular stock through an anonymous execution platform.
With the exception of Spain, Alpha x Europe covers all European markets and is MiFID compliant. It can be accessed through SG CIB execution channels or directly through the bank's algorithmic trading platform.
The bank says the network protects participants' interests by offering a completely anonymous system, guaranteeing confidentiality of orders.
Depending on available liquidity, orders are either fully or partially executed in Alpha x Europe, with the remaining orders being routed to the regulated exchanges.
SocGen says the network provides institutional investors a major source of liquidity in an increasingly fragmented marketplace.
In addition, implicit transaction costs are cut by half because the system executes orders by crossing at mid-spread of the best bid and offer. SG CIB estimates this benefit amounts to a gain of 0.05% to 0.12% depending on the stock.