NYFIX, SIX X-CLEAR FORM CENTRAL COUNTERPARTY PARTNERSHIP FOR EURO MILLENNIUM DARK POOL

Posted September 30, 2008

NEW YORK – Trading solutions provider NYFIX Inc. and central counterparty (CCP) SIX x-clear will form a partnership to develop a CCP solution for the NYFIX Euro Millennium dark pool planned to launch by the end of 2008.

“Recent events have justified the need for CCPs in an increasingly automated world,” says Tim Wildenberg, Head of Direct Execution Services Europe at UBS Investment Bank, and a user of Euro Millennium. “NYFIX Euro Millennium is enhancing its offering by making the smart choice of SIX x-clear, a CCP with a proven track record of delivering robust risk management and competitive post-trade costs.”

The partnership between NYFIX and SIX x-clear will further expand the post-trade facilities of Euro Millennium and will be offered in conjunction with BNP Paribas, which already works closely with NYFIX in offering post-trade services. SIX x-clear will enable clients to execute in Euro Millennium and then settle efficiently and effectively against the CCP, further reducing post-trade costs and risks by providing a netting service and a real-time risk management system to ensure that all positions are continuously monitored and assessed.

“The choice of SIX x-clear as the clearing partner for Euro Millennium provides clients with a customer-owned, customer-driven service provider which believes that both service and price are important within the clearing space,” says Marco Strimer, Chief Executive Officer, SIX x-clear. “Our real-time risk management systems provide clients with a comfort level in addition to the highly efficient and comprehensive service they expect from us. The highly automated open system architecture allows seamless integration with Euro Millennium and a short time-to-market.”

The netting service will create a single trade for settlement that combines all of the trades that have been done with a given counterparty for a particular International Securities Indentifying Number (ISIN). Settlement for each security will be in the principal place of settlement liquidity for the stock, allowing the interchangeability of settlement between Euro Millennium and other exchanges and multi-lateral trading facilities.

“Since its launch earlier this year, we have seen liquidity grow dramatically in Euro Millennium and we have been working with our clients to ensure that dark trading delivers significant benefits, including price improvement and reduced market impact,” says said Chris Smith, Director, NYFIX International. “One of the most important aspects in selecting SIX x-clear as our partner was the ability to ensure that mid and small-cap stocks traded on Euro Millennium could be settled as effectively as the most liquid large-cap stocks.”