MOEX now owns 65% stake in OTC FX platform NTPro
The Russian market operator Moscow Exchange (MOEX) has raised its stake in BierbaumPro AG, whose main asset is the OTC FX platform NTPro. The transaction increases MOEX’s ownership from 29.5% to 95%, the exchange operator said on Thursday.
In March 2020, Russia’s mega bourse purchased a minority stake in BierbaumPro AG in a deal aimed to boost its foreign exchange franchise. At the time, both parties agreed to consolidate the ownership of MOEX up to 100% of BierbaumPro’s equity over three years. The final price, however, wasn’t disclosed and the exchange said it will depend on the company’s operational and financial performance.
Established in 2016, NTProgress has evolved from a startup to a leading platform solution provider on the Russian OTC FX market, with a client base of more than 30 banks. The platform offers solutions for liquidity aggregation, matching and algo execution across a wide range of FX instruments.
This alliance also intends to expand both companies’ service offering and allows MOEX and NTProgressto offer their users flexible advanced FX trading solutions alongside clearing and settlement facilities.
Market participants can open spot transactions in G10 currencies at OTC market prices with settlement through Moscow Exchange’s National Clearing Centre (NCC).
MOEX also said it would open the FX auction from December to be held from 6:50am to 7:00am for all spot instruments. The exchange already started trading foreign currency, gold and derivatives three hours earlier from March 1.
MOEX, which runs one of the largest FX trading platforms, revealed that its total FX turnover hit RUB 25.3 trillion ($350 billion) in September 2021. That compares to RUB 23.0 trillion ($315 billion), which exchanged hands in August 2021.
MOEX also plans to offer clearing of OTC trades with pre-clearing collateral check by NCC to NTPro clients in December 2021. The move will enable interested parties to use exchange-traded collateral to operate on the OTC market through the platform.
Russia’s largest institutional trading venue has recently extended trading hours across several asset classes in a move aimed at attracting a greater number of foreign investors and to drive more liquidity.
