London Stock Exchange offers alternative to dark pools to meet new rules

LONDON, Oct (HKSE: 3366-OL.HK - news) 14 (Reuters) - London Stock Exchange Group has changed the way it processes large-scale deals to help clients comply with new European financial regulations, its head of UK equity said on Wednesday.

The changes are designed to aid the execution oflarge scale deals in light of newly finalised MiFID II rules, which were set out by the European Union last month.

One impacts of the new regulations, set to take effect in 2017, will be to cap anonymous share trading in so-called "dark-pools".

LSE Group's UK equity market head Brian Schwieger has been seeking ways to adapt to the new rules.

"For everyone, it's an immense gamechanger. It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) 's requiring a significant amount of investment from everyone," Schwieger told Reuters.

MiFID II is the biggest overhaul of EU securities rules in a decade, designed to apply lessons from the 2007-09 financial crisis and reflect advances in computerised trading technology.

The LSE Group has already announced some changes, such as the introduction of intraday auctions to help boost liquidity, which Schwieger said he expected to be introduced in February.

The latest change provides an alternative to dark pools, Schwieger said, while still allowing clients to access liquidity that is not on traditional exchanges.

Schwieger said that the changes would be compatible with existing algorithms that are designed for dark pools, at the same time as complying with the new regulatory environment.

"We wanted to make sure it required minimal work for our clients, as we know that everyone is already flat-out, trying to prepare for MiFID II," Schwieger said. (Reporting by Alistair Smout; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)