LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE MOVES ITALIAN STOCKS ONTO TRADELECT

Posted November 11, 2008

LONDON – The London Stock Exchange (LSE) Group has moved Italian equities from the MTA and Expandi market onto its TradElect trading system, as part of the LSE’s integration of its acquisition of Borsa Italiana.

“Our Italian member firms in particular will benefit from improved system performance and the opportunity to employ new technical trading strategies which have been driving record volume growth in London,” says Massimo Capuano, Deputy Chief Executive of the LSE Group. “In creating Europe’s largest pool of liquidity, we anticipate that the Group’s network of 500 equity trading members will drive tighter spreads and a lower cost of capital, to the benefit of investors and companies.”

Some 320 MTA stocks, and 40 stocks from Borsa Italiana’s Expandi market, have commenced trading on TradElect. In preparation for the launch, Italian customers have had access to test environments for the last five months. Following four weekend market-wide dress rehearsals, Italian market participants self-certified their readiness for the November 10 launch. The other Italian markets currently hosted by the Affari platform will migrate onto TradElect in the first half of 2009.