NYSE Euronext announced Tuesday that it will begin allowing firms to print trades from their alternative trading systems on the FINRA/NYSE Trade Reporting Facility.

Beginning next month, the firm will provide a means for participating broker-dealers’ ATSs and off-exchange market centers to create transparency regarding volume and individual ‘dark pool’ activity. The NYSE Euronext said that it has been discussing the idea with a number of firms, and it says that Barclays Capital, GETCO, Goldman Sachs Execution & Clearing, L.P., Knight Equity Markets, L.P. and UBS Investment Bank have volunteered to begin reporting their respective venues’ activity to the FINRA/NYSE TRF in November. Other firms have also indicated an interest in the initiative and are establishing the necessary technology to begin participating in the program in the coming weeks, it notes.

The NYSE adds that basing the published volume strictly on trade reports will address some of the problems associated with voluntary reporting by ATSs of their own volume, such as counting both sides of a trade, and counting trades that are routed but not executed. Trades reported to FINRA/NYSE TRF will be single-counted and matched-only.

“This is an example of NYSE Euronext and the industry working together to develop a positive solution to address the lack of understanding regarding the extent and nature of ‘dark pool’ trading , which has been a concern for regulators and legislators,” said Joseph Mecane, NYSE Euronext’s executive vice president and chief administrative officer for U.S. Markets. “We believe this will bring requisite and appropriate sunlight to alternative trading systems and other sources of off-exchange liquidity, and also help standardize the way their trading volumes are reported.”

“This initiative is an important step toward the standardization of trade volume reporting across ATS venues,” said Frank Troise, head of equities electronic product at Barclays Capital. “Industry participants will be able to make more informed order placement decisions and thereby improve their execution quality.”

IE