BNP Paribas upgrades trading platform to comply with EU rules

PARIS (Reuters) - BNP Paribas, France's biggest bank, said on Thursday it has been building extensive transparency reporting platforms for the trading of all non-equity instruments and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in response to new European Union rules.

The EU's Markets in Financial Instruments Directive, otherwise known as "MiFID II", aims to push more trading onto regulated public exchanges where prices and participants are visible to all and comes into effect on Jan. 3.

Banks are working on new electronic trading platforms structured as a "systematic internaliser" (SI) in response to these rules.

"(BNP Paribas) will voluntarily opt in to become a Systematic Internaliser for MiFID II in-scope instruments that are traded or admitted to trading on trading venues, as of 3 January 2018," the bank said on Thursday.

The bank said it would not push all of its over-the-counter (OTC) voice trading into the new electronic trading platform.

"As an SI, ... we have been building extensive transparency reporting platforms. We will keep trading OTC with our clients the same way as today, via voice or our single dealer portal."

The new transparency and reporting infrastructure will cover non-equity instruments, such as bonds and derivatives, and exchange-traded funds.

(Reporting by Maya Nikolaeva in Paris with additional reporting by Simon Jessop in London, editing by David Evans)