The London International Stock Exchange has warned that computer and communications vendors choosing to ignore the trading support services principles that it intends to introduce this autumn will be unlikely to sell successfully into the much sought-after sector. In a consultation document, The Way Forward for Trading Services, proposed to its 400 members this week, the International Stock Exchange puts forward a framework for the future of its electronic services: the document looks at how the Exchange can progress from its present communications capabilities through to an integrated set of electronic services. By the autumn, The Exchange and its members hope to formulate specific proposals on which networks will be based; computer and communications vendors are doing all they can to make sure their systems are not left out of the guidelines. The Stock Exchange says it will support open standards, and that the framework will have most influence on software development. Since Big Bang, major financial institutions have been busy developing systems that co-exist with the Stock Exchange’s network, while suiting their own needs: the Stock Exchange now wants to get back to the integrated system that was in evidence prior to Big Bang. The Exchange sets out a number of general proposals for future services. It wants systems to have the flexibility to adapt to market rule changes, flexible control over access, links between users, and the service to be provided by a single communications channel using one standardised communications protocol, and all services to evolve towards a common information system architecture; at the user’s end, it wants a single terminal or system to be able to initiate any function of the trading services across the link. The Stock Exchange makes it clear, however, that it wants all future systems to support personal interaction between dealers, allowing transactions between individuals rather than systems, the document says.
