Bloomberg Trading Facility Limited (BTF), an affiliate of Bloomberg LP, has secured approval from the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) to operate a multilateral trading facility (MTF).
Bloomberg’s Dutch MTF, or BTFE, mirrors its current regulatory permissions in the United Kingdom and allows the company to provide its services throughout the EU from Amsterdam, operating under a MiFID II passport. The new MTF also draws on Bloomberg’s trading venue capabilities to enable market participants to execute interest rate swaps and credit default swaps, using both request for quote and order book functionalities.
Bloomberg and other companies running trading venues such multilateral-trading facilities are establishing European bases ahead of the UK’s departure from the European Union, to continue offering services to their clients.
Dutch Effort to Win Business
Tradeweb, MarketAxess and NEX Group have already chosen Amsterdam as their post-Brexit base, while Thomson Reuters is seeking authorization to relocate its foreign exchange MTF from London to Dublin.
The Dutch regulator set a deadline until July 1 for firms to seek approval if they want a guarantee of being regulated in time for Brexit. It is important to note that under the new regulations, for any and all institutions that fall under the MiFID II regime, financial instruments can only be traded on the new MTFs.
Commenting on this, Ben Macdonald, global head of Enterprise Product at Bloomberg, said: “Bloomberg is committed to help its clients in the UK and the EU transition into the post-Brexit environment, whatever the outcome of the negotiations. We chose Amsterdam as we’ve had a presence in the city for many years and consider that its flourishing business environment, as well as the experience of the AFM, provide the best solution for Bloomberg.”
Nicholas Bean, Head of Electronic Trading Solutions at Bloomberg and CEO of BTFE, added: “We are pleased to announce that eligible market participants will be able to Leverage our Dutch MTF to trade in compliance with EU regulatory obligations, notably MiFID II. Bloomberg’s Dutch MTF is at an advanced stage of development and will be operationally ready in early 2019, to maintain Bloomberg’s commitment to operating a venue within the EU for its clients.”
