No rattling of sabres

Well there has been a lot of 'sabre rattling' going on around investment banks threatening to set up multilateral trading facilities to challenge the monopoly of Europe's exchanges.

However, one platform, Equiduct, which resurrected the old Easdaq pan-European exchange platform, appears to be doing a lot more than waving its sabre about provocatively. For those sceptics who thought it may not get off the ground (or was that Project Turquoise), Equiduct is demonstrating all the signs of a trading platform in the throes of going live.

Willy Van Stappen, ex LCH.Clearnet, has joined Equiduct as chief operating officer. He will be focused on the provision of 'best execution' services that Equiduct plans to offer including enabling firms to trade instruments listed across 29 markets via a single platform.

Equiduct has also secured its first round of funding from Belgium-based Bams Angels Fund and a group of London-based industry professionals (presumably that means investment banks or individuals that want to put the exchanges' noses out of joint). Market data service are scheduled for Q3 this year with trading on Equiduct expected to commence in Q1 2008.