AXE axed? September 25, 2008
Posted by James Webster in : finance , add a commentQuite unsurprisingly given the current market, it appears the AXE ‘the Australian ECN’ has pushed its launch plans back further to ‘early 2009′. At this point in time its backers (amongst them Merrill Lynch, now owned by Bank of America) probably have other things to worry about rather than going after the ASX’s market share. There has been a leadership change as well with Greg Yanco no longer listed as the CEO.
At last count AXE ECN (plus other hopeful entrants Chi-X & Liquidnet) has been awaiting the blessing of Nick Sherry (Minister for Superannuation and Corporate Law) for introduction of competition into the Australian equities market (see ‘All roads lead to liquidity’) within the context of a new regulatory framework to support a Brave New World where the ASX does not hold a monopoly.
However in the current volatile market environment where retirement savings are rapidly loosing value, many market players are looking shaky and ASIC/ASX have taken the unprecedented step of suspending ALL short-selling (naked and covered) across all listed stocks (not just financials as many global markets have… see ‘A step too far’ for a good discussion on why this is ‘reckless policy-on-the-run’), it might be fair to say that approving new Australian Market Licenses might not be high on Mr. Sherry’s agenda!