The new owners of the Aquis stock exchange have said its trading technology could be used to create a new ‘pan-European listing venue’, in a potential boost to revive London’s public markets.
The firm, which counts the likes of Ora Technology, Kondor AI and IntelliAM among its constituents, was acquired by the Swiss stock exchange SIX in a £225 million deal in November last year.
SIX has since said it has been exploring whether Aquis’s matching engine — the software that the company uses to pair orders and processes transactions — can support trading in Spanish and Swiss stocks, according to a report by Bloomberg.
SIX Chief Executive Officer Bjørn Sibbern told Bloomberg: “With one connection you get access to the Spanish exchange, the Swiss exchange and Aquis’s 16 markets.
“That gives us an opportunity to look at what can we do in the future in terms of a pan-European listing venue.”
Aquis, which already licenses proprietary market infrastructure technologies and market data alongside operating its stock exchange in London, said it saw more than £50bn traded on its venues in February — predominantly via its European multilateral trading facility.
It comes after Aquis founder Alasdair Haynes last month announced he would be stepping back from the day-to-day running of the company effective immediately amid health concerns.
Haynes, who has acted as CEO of Aquis since its launch in 2012, said that for health reasons, said he had decided to reduce his workload, resigning as chief executive, though maintaining his relationship with the business under his new role of president.
“I will remain close to the business that I love, but in a less demanding capacity,” the 65-year-old said.
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