Euro exchanges firm pact
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September 23, 1999: 9:50 a.m. ET
Eight bourses set common platform to trade largest stocks, head off e-threat
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LONDON (CNNfn) - Europe's main stock exchanges took another step toward integration Thursday by agreeing on a common platform to trade the largest blue-chip shares.
The alliance, led by the London and Frankfurt stock exchanges, also agreed on a new electronic share trading platform expected to be operational by November 2000.
The other bourses in the alliance are Paris, Zurich, Milan, Madrid, Amsterdam and Brussels.
European exchanges have faced criticism for their slow progress since announcing a broad-based alliance last year, which some analysts view as the precursor to a single stock market for the region.
The markets also have come under pressure from new-style electronic platforms and Internet trading, which offer investors low-cost access for trading equities.
A group of U.S. banks is believed to be creating its own European electronic platform to cut dealing costs.
The heads of eight bourses agreed at a meeting in Brussels on a common trading model, setting the functional standards for each stock market, though participants will be responsible for regulating transactions made through their own exchanges.
The pact will allow investors to trade in the largest 300 or so European shares from any of the eight exchanges.
The eight exchanges launched the first of their coordination initiatives this week, with London, Paris and five others opening earlier to bring them into line with Frankfurt, while the Continental bourses extended their closing times to coincide with the close in London
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