Chi-X Japan has been granted a proprietary trading system license by the Japan Financial Services Agency, paving the way for a 29 July launch.

Chi-X Global, owned by Nomura through Instinet, is seeking to replicate the huge success of its Chi-X Europe sister in Asia. As well as the Japan launch, plans are afoot for Australian and Hong Kong platforms as well as a dark pool joint venture with the Singapore Exchange.

Chi-X Japan will operate its market exclusively for the use of registered broker/dealer participants in the country, with trades cleared through the Japan Securities Clearing Corporation.

The launch on 29 July will consist of a small group of participants and a limited number of large liquidity stocks. Trading will then expand to include the entire group of Nikkei 225 names, plus other selected stocks.

Ron Gould, CEO, Chi-X Asia-Pacific, says: "With the important market changes already introduced with the Tokyo Stock Exchange's launch of Arrowhead, investors in Japanese equities will now potentially have access to even faster trading performance, tighter spreads and reduced market impact as new liquidity is drawn into Japan."

Joseph Meyer, representative director, Chi-X Japan, adds: "Chi-X Japan's data centers are equipped with the high-speed, low-latency trading system, as well as complete redundancy and backup. As we will likely be one of the first PTSs to use JSCC's clearing system, Chi-X Japan will be able to provide to its participants and their end-investors an efficient end-to-end trading infrastructure. With Chi-X Japan and Arrowhead, Japan will offer one of the world's most sophisticated investment environments."