Quote MTF has severed all ties with Peter Beck, the companys ex-chairman and CEO of former day trading firm Swift Trade. The lit trading venue for pan-European equities has bought out Becks 60% share of Quote MTF, held by his Canada-based company BRMS Holding, removing any association between the European regulated liquidity pool and Beck.
The wealthy Canadian businessman was embroiled in a battle with the UK Financial Services Authority (FSA), which alleged that Swift Trades day traders were working under management direction to manipulate the market through layering, a form of spoofing the market by entering several orders to buy a stock in the hope of increasing the price of that stock on the London Stock Exchange. The regulator fined the company 8m in August this year.
Beck subsequently resigned as Quote MTF chairman as the FSA allegations unfolded. On December 13 2010 Swift Trade was voluntarily dissolved under Canadian law after changing its name to 7722656 Canada Inc and its remaining assets were transferred BRMS.
Christian Bower, member of the Board, Quote MTF, commented: While there were no executive or operational relations between Quote MTF and Swift Trade, nor any trading relationship between the two firms, Quote MTF recognizes that ownership of an unregulated day trading company, with the political and regulatory exposure this brings, has proven incompatible with the high standards of independence and transparency that an exchange must observe. We wish to reassert that Quote MTF retains an unblemished regulatory record.
Commenting on the success of Quote MTF and its future in Europes post-MiFID world, Bower adds: Since we launched in April this year, Quote MTF has flawlessly traded more than 7bn. We continue now to focus on the development of our service offering, advancement of our technologies and the recruitment of liquidity providers and broker subscribers. We continue to advance our activities in Interoperability and market expansion and look forward to further driving competition throughout Europe.
The transaction has no effect on the 40% Liquidity Partner equity scheme, which came into effect earlier this year, said Quote MTF.
(JDC)