(Adds more detail)
LONDON, Oct 12 (Reuters) - The London Stock Exchange
said its pan-European share trading arm Turquoise will offer
trading in EU-listed shares on its Dutch platform from the end
of next month if there is no agreement on future direct access
to the bloc by then.
Brussels is assessing whether to allow Britain's financial
sector to serve EU investors under its "equivalence" system,
which checks if UK market rules are as robust as those in the
EU.
After Britain left the EU last January, direct access to the
single market under transition arrangements ends on Dec. 31.
"Turquoise can confirm that it is planning on invoking its
Brexit contingency plans on Monday 30 November 2020, unless
relevant equivalence decisions to allow cross-border services
between the EU and UK are agreed prior to this date," the UK
exchange said in a statement. All shares would still be
available for trading in London as well.
The LSE set up its Dutch hub as insurance against no direct
access to EU investors.
CBOE, the biggest pan-European share trading platform, which
is based in London, has also set up a hub in Amsterdam that is
already open for business but with little trading so far, while
London-based Aquis Exchange has set up its Brexit hub in Paris.
Without equivalence, EU investors would have to trade EU
companies inside the bloc, even though many of them are heavily
traded in London.
Banks have warned that fragmenting trading liquidity would
make markets less efficient for users.
(Reporting by Huw Jones; Editing by Susan Fenton and Mark
Potter)
