Penson Financial Services Ltd, (Penson), the London-based clearing unit of Penson Worldwide, Inc. (PNSN), has joined SmartPool, the European dark liquidity pool created by NYSE Euronext in partnership with HSBC, J.P. Morgan and BNP Paribas.
Penson will offer trading firms executing on SmartPool, a solution that should significantly reduce clearing and settlement costs through Pensons offering of outsourcing and General Clearing Member (GCM) services. Pensons membership of SmartPool will thus allow a wider range of participants to trade on SmartPool without the need for major infrastructure build.
Todays announcement reinforces our commitment to create a dark pool champion focused on attracting the largest and most diverse dark pool trading community in Europe, says Lee Hodgkinson, SmartPool CEO and head of European sales & relationship management for NYSE Euronext. As one of the leading brokers on NYSE Euronexts US Cash Markets, we are delighted to introduce Pensons global services to our European trading community. By leveraging NYSE Euronexts transatlantic franchise and substantial client distribution network, no other market operator can match our scale and this advantage is difficult for our rivals to replicate.
Clive Triance, CEO of PFSL, adds: Penson views this relationship as a way to efficiently expand our services to a significant number of European broker dealers. Penson is committed to building the best clearing and execution services firm in the world and providing cost effective solutions that enable clients to concentrate on trading, as opposed to building expensive infrastructure. We look forward to forming a long-term working relationship with SmartPool to the benefit of all.”