The London Stock Exchange (LSE) has confirmed that it has applied for several trading licences in the Netherlands as a contingency against a hard Brexit.
The LSE said in a statement: “As part of contingency planning for a hard Brexit scenario, Turquoise, TRADEcho and UnaVista have applied for a select number of additional licences to continue to offer their services to EU-27 customers from Amsterdam.”
Turquoise is a trading platform majority owned by the LSE. It aims to be the venue of choice for trading European equities allowing users to trade equities form 18 countries across Europe.
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TRADEcho is a trade reporting service part owned by Simplitium and UnaVista is a trade repository for derivatives.
The LSE is not the only exchange to move parts of its business to Europe to ensure it can continue offer its clients EU-wide services in the event of a hard Brexit.
Chicagos Cboe Global Markets also confirmed this week that it was opening an Amsterdam base.
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Mark Hemsley, president of Cboe Europe, said: “We believe that the Netherlands is supportive of competitive and open financial market infrastructure and we feel Amsterdam is a fantastic location to establish our EU venue.”
Both Aquis Exchange and TP Icap are currently examining their options and talking to regulators about opening bases on continental Europe.
