Penson will offer trading firms executing on SmartPool, a solution that should significantly reduce clearing and settlement costs through Penson's offering of outsourcing and General Clearing Member (GCM) services. Penson's membership of SmartPool will thus allow a wider range of participants to trade on SmartPool without the need for major infrastructure build.

Lee Hodgkinson, SmartPool CEO and Head of European Sales & Relationship Management, NYSE Euronext commented: "Today's announcement reinforces our commitment to create a dark pool champion focused on attracting the largest and most diverse dark pool trading community in Europe.

As one of the leading brokers on NYSE Euronext's US Cash Markets, we are delighted to introduce Penson's global services to our European trading community. By leveraging NYSE Euronext's transatlantic franchise and substantial client distribution network, no other market operator can match our scale and this advantage is difficult for our rivals to replicate."

Clive Triance, PFSL CEO, commented: "Penson views this relationship as a way to efficiently expand our services to a significant number of European broker dealers. Penson is committed to building the best clearing and execution services firm in the world and providing cost effective solutions that enable clients to concentrate on trading, as opposed to building expensive infrastructure. We look forward to forming a long-term working relationship with SmartPool to the benefit of all."