Ahead of the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union (EU), Turquoise continues to make all necessary preparations to ensure adequate contingency arrangements are in place. Turquoise has obtained regulatory approval from the Autoriteit Financiële Markten (AFM) in The Netherlands to operate as an MTF (Turquoise Europe).
On 31 January 2020, the United Kingdom left the European Union (EU) and entered into a “Brexit transition period”. The Brexit transition period is currently scheduled to end at 11pm UK time on 31 December 2020. Ahead of this date, Turquoise continues to make all necessary preparations to ensure adequate contingency arrangements are in place. Turquoise can confirm that it is planning on invoking its Brexit contingency plans on Monday 30 November 2020, unless relevant equivalence decisions to allow cross-border services between the EU and UK are agreed prior to this date.
We continue to monitor developments and will further update the market on our planning in due course.
In the event Turquoise invokes its Brexit contingency plans, the following will occur:
Turquoise Europe Rule Book
Turquoise has now published the Draft Rule Book for Turquoise Europe which closely mirrors the existing Turquoise Rule Book.
Access to Turquoise Europe
Turquoise has published the membership documentation for Turquoise Europe and invites current Turquoise members and eligible firms to apply for membership for Turquoise Europe. Acceptance of Turquoise Europe membership applications will be subject to applicants meeting the eligibility criteria for membership. Turquoise welcomes applications for Turquoise Europe membership from UK investment firms, however, acceptance of these applications will be subject to the ability of Turquoise Europe under relevant legislation to do so and/ or the provisions of any Brexit deal.
The membership documentation for Turquoise Europe mirrors the existing Turquoise membership documentation and consists of the following:
Third Country members are requested to complete the Member Firm Declaration Form, available here
Completed membership documents should be signed, scanned and returned via email to membership@lseg.com or returned via hardcopy to Turquoise Membership, London Stock Exchange Group, 10 Paternoster Square, London EC4M 7LS United Kingdom.
Following submission of the Turquoise Europe Membership Application Form, customer Super Users will be provided with login details for the Turquoise Europe Member Portal. Super Users can set-up and permission additional users to complete the on-boarding information for their firm in the Member Portal. Applicants will require new logical connections for trading on Turquoise Europe; new CompIDs should be requested in the Turquoise Europe Member Portal.
Turquoise Europe plans to offer the same interoperable clearing arrangements available on Turquoise today. Customers will need to arrange for the clearing of their trades on Turquoise Europe by contacting their CCP of choice either directly (if they are a clearing member) or through their GCM (if they are a non-clearing member) to agree their on-boarding requirements. Turquoise will liaise with the CCPs to manage customer static data and trading access.
Customers will need to complete a mandatory conformance test in Turquoise Customer Development Service (CDS) and return the certification test report. In addition, customers can arrange for optional testing with the CCP from Turquoise CDS.
In preparation for any potential go-live, customers will need to upload their short long code mappings in the Member Portal and, if required, complete an algorithmic market making agreement.