14 February 2008

Turquoise enters testing phase

Bank-backed equities trading venture Turquoise has recruited US-based AppLabs to provide testing and quality assurance for its pan-European platform and surveillance system, which is set to launch in September.

In a statement Turquoise says Philadelphia based-Applabs will deliver a testing programme that will "verify and ensure that the trading platform is fit for purpose".

Turquoise says AppLabs will extensively test the trading and surveillance functionalities of the facility to assure quality of the delivery and ensure the platform launches successfully in September 2008.

"We are ambitious for Turquoise and acknowledge that to achieve our goals we will have to assure the market place that the integrated trading platform is functionally reliable, robust and efficient and that it will perform to the highest standards," says Turquoise CTO Yann L'Huillier. "Bringing to bear the experience of AppLabs to thoroughly test the Turquoise platform will help us to achieve this goal."

The Turquoise platform is being set up by a group of investment banks to compete head-to-head with domestic stock exchanges in Europe following the introduction of the EU's Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID).

Speaking at Finexpo in January, Turquoise CEO Eli Lederman said he now expects the venture to receive FSA approval before a September launch. He told delegates that the exchange will begin trading in 300 liquid stocks in September and gradually roll-out to encompass some 1200 stocks in a darker liquidity pool.

In January Turquoise selected Nasdaq-listed Progress Software and London-based consultancy Detica to provide a real-time trading surveillance system which will detect breaches of trading rules and market irregularities and deliver detailed analysis of trading on the platform. The trading platform is being built by Swedish vendor Cinnober.

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