New platform gets UK green light
The City watchdog has given the green light for operations to start at Aquis, a new pan-European share trading platform which aims to take on bigger rivals by offering subscription-based pricing modelled on the mobile phone market. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has given Aquis approval to open for business a year after it was set up by its chief executive Alasdair Haynes. “We can now forge ahead with the introduction of subscription pricing to the European cash equities market,” Haynes said. Normally users are charged a percentage of the value of each stock trade they make but on Aquis they will pay a rate according to the level of activity.