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British screen-based

stock market set for launch

LONDON: Tradepoint Financial Networks Plc said on Friday it has set September 21 as the starting date for the launch of Britain's first fully electronic, order-driven stock dealing system.

Tradepoint became a recognised investment exchange (RIE) in June, giving it the authority to open a new market to compete with the London Stock Exchange (LSE), which has had a virtual monopoly on trading of British shares.

Tradepoint chief executive Michael Waller-Bridge, announcing the start-up date, said: "We believe that Tradepoint will contribute to the UK's pre-eminence as a financial centre through the application of electronic technology and the promotion of transparency in market operations."

Tradepoint, which is listed on the Vancouver Stock Exchange and is the first of several markets due to challenge the exchange's dominance, said it will initially trade a list of 400 equities which it will publish on September 20.

The LSE has warned that competing systems could result in fragmentation of markets for British equities, saying a central market offers the most effective pricing mechanisms.

The Stock Exchange and the Securites Investment Board are currently looking separately at whether rules designed to provide best prices and best execution on the LSE should be relaxed or changed in the light of new market competition.

The Treasury has said it will delay any decisions on the subject until after the LSE completes a consultation with market participants over the best prices rule, which says the keenest prices must be displayed over the LSE's system, and after the SIB completes a review of a regulation on best execution.

Last week, the Inland Revenue said regulations had been laid to remove the tax obstacles which it said might otherwise have prevented effective trading by Tradepoint.

These included provisions regarding income tax for dealers in securities and stamp duty reserve taxes.-Reuter