Changing exchanges

Several multilateral trading venues have set up shop, freed from regulatory restrictions with the advent of Mifid last year. But exchanges are also stepping up to the challenge, launching a variety of new services to attract algorithmic traders and statistical arbitrage funds. By Ryan Davidson

Stock exchanges in Europe have traditionally held a privileged position. Rather than compete for business, European bourses were aided by rules that specified equities could only trade through regulated, domestic exchanges - restrictions critics claimed led to unreasonably high prices for trading stocks. Those rules have now been swept away. The European Union's Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (Mifid), which came into effect last November, opened the way for greater competition in the