BNP Paribas may shut down its private trading platform in Hong Kong that allows investors to buy and sell shares anonymously – a platform also known as dark pool. The move comes amid a global regulatory clampdown on dark pools. The bank had sent a note to clients saying it was closing its BNP Paribas Internal Exchange, or ‘BIX’ platform, as of December. Hong Kong’s securities regulator, the Securities and Futures Commission, is introducing rules that will ban retail orders from dark pools; require brokers to prioritise client trades over proprietary orders; and introduce a range of new administrative and operational controls – measures that brokers say will make it uneconomical to run these private share trading platforms. Following the closure of its dark pool, BNP’s client orders will be sent directly to the stock exchange.
