Bats Trading Limited has made an application to the Financial Services Authority (FSA) to become a Recognised Investment Exchange (RIE) under section 287 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.
BATS is a pan-European multilateral trading facility (MTF) for equities operating under the brand name of BATS Chi-X Europe. BATS Chi-X Europe was formed through the combination of two MTFs in 2011 (BATS Europe and Chi-X Europe) and is a wholly owned subsidiary of BATS Global Markets Inc., an operator of stock and options markets in the US and Europe.
The principal business aim of BATS in applying for recognition is to expand its business to offer primary listings of equities and potentially moving into other asset classes over time.
For clearing services, BATS intends to maintain its interoperable clearing model which currently engages four clearing houses: EuroCCP, EMCF, LCH and X-clear.
Under section 303(3) of FSMA 2000, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) must report to H.M. Treasury, the FSA and the Competition Commission on whether any of the regulatory provisions or combination of regulatory provisions of an applicant for recognition has a significantly adverse effect on competition.
The OFT is currently conducting its competition assessment of BATS's application; as part of this process, the OFT invites comments from any parties that have an interest in the application. BATS's current draft exchange rules and draft participant manual are found at the links below.