Instinet and Credit Suisse to Access Each Other's Dark Pools

Ivy Schmerken, Wall Street & Technology

Instinet and Credit Suisse's Advanced Execution Services (AES) unit have agreed to provide their clients with access to each other's dark liquidity pools, according to today's announcement. The partnership between the two brokers involves Credit Suisse's CrossFinder and Instinet's CBX and is intended to increase institutions' chances of executing large trades with minimal market impact."The recent evolution of the equity markets has produced exponential growth in dark liquidity pools, and this new dynamic has fragmented markets and created a logistical nightmare for institutional clients," stated Michael Plunkett, president, North America at Instinet, in the release. "We are addressing the issue by opening up our CBX to Credit Suisse's institutional order flow and, simultaneously, offering Instinet's institutional clients access to CrossFinder," added Plunkett. "Our goal is to solve the buy side's new frustration by creating partnerships that enhance access to liquidity while continuing to provide anonymity," Plunkett continued in the release.

Under terms of the agreement, Credit Suisse's CrossFinder will now become an additional liquidity pool that Instinet's Nighthawk algorithm sweeps, while Instinet's CBX will be added as a liquidity source to Credit Suisse's Guerrilla algorithm, according to the release. The agreement also calls for each firm's suite of algorithms to be available through the other's trading front ends - Instinet Trading Portal and Newport from Instinet - and through more than 40 trading systems that partner with Credit Suisse.

Dan Mathisson, managing director and head of AES at Credit Suisse, called the partnership a win for both firms' clients. "Being able to access the combined liquidity will enhance performance and increase fill rates throughout the entire suite of AES algorithms," stated Mathisson in the release. Ivy is Editor-at-Large for Advanced Trading and Wall Street & Technology. Ivy is responsible for writing in-depth feature articles, daily blogs and news articles with a focus on automated trading in the capital markets. As an industry expert, Ivy has reported on a myriad ... View Full Bio