UK Companies Seeks Partnerships with Sri Lankan Companies in Financial and Professional Services

21st December 2010, www.dailynews.lk

British High Commission, UKT Deputy Head Nadeesha Epasinghe visited to the Colombo Stock Exchange with a delegation from the Council for Business with Britain.

She said the high performing CSE will help Sri Lanka establish itself as a leading global financial services centre.

"Financial and professional services could soon represent a major component of Sri Lanka's economy and account for a significant percentage of GDP. (Currently, they represent 12 percent of GDP in the UK economy.)

The london Stock Exchange (LSE) is home to companies from over 60 countries around the world, the CSE, too, has the potential to continue to grow and be ranked as a top performing stock market globally.

The credit crunch has had a major impact on the global economy and financial institutions around the world over the past couple of years. However, financial markets in both London and Colombo have continued to function efficiently without interruption despite the volatility and challenges facing the financial sector. The key focus for Sri Lanka in the coming years will be to structurally strengthen, diversify markets and establish a strong skills base to become a truly a global financial centre.

A regulatory framework that uniquely balances market confidence and consumer protection while embracing financial innovation underpins UK's success in the financial services sector and is an area where Sri Lanka has growth potential. At UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) at the Colombo British High Commission, we actively support UK companies entering the financial sector in Sri Lanka because we see the potential. At the same time, we are seeking Sri Lankan companies to invest in the UK's financial sector.

The transfer of knowledge between the two countries - as exemplified with the acquisition of Millennium IT by the LSE - would bode well for the future of both countries. "We also look forward to announcing some impressive partnerships between UK companies and Sri Lankan financial services next year," British high Commission said.

MillanniumIT Built London Stock Exchange Trading Platform Turquoise Achieves World Record Trading Time

21st October 201, www.news360.lk, By Robert Charette

ComputerWorld UK is reporting today that the new London Stock Exchange (LSE) trading platform called Turquoise has achieved a world record trading time of 126 microseconds during tests in anticipation of its roll-out on the first of November.

In September 2009, the LSE announced plans to replace its Tradelect core trading platform with one from Sri Lanka-based MillenniumIT, which it bought for £18 million. It completed the acquisition this past February. The LSE introduced Tradelect a little more than two years ago after spending four years and £40 million on its development, but it has been plagued with problems ever since.

According to ComputerWorld UK, the LSE, with a bit of marketing hype, claimed the 126 microsecond trading time was “twice as fast” as its rivals, BATS Europe and Chi-X, which have trading times of 250 and 175 microseconds respectively.

An article last week in the Financial Times of London, interestingly enough, said that Turquoise had achieved a trading time of 124 microseconds during its tests.

The FT also noted that “the 124 microseconds was the time taken from the moment when a client input an order to the exchange and the message coming back to the client.”

Turquoise is Linux-based, whereas the Tradelect system is based on Microsoft’s .Net architecture.

ComputerWorld UK also wrote that: “David Lester, CEO of Turquoise, said that alongside the 126 microsecond average latency, 99 percent of orders would be processed within 210 microseconds, and only 0.1 percent will take longer than 400 microseconds.”

Of course, given these latency times, one can only imagine what might happen if something goes wrong, as in the case of the NYSE “flash crash.” (In its initial test, Turquoise had a glitch itself.) High-speed, automated trading is a major area of concern to financial regulators, who are worried that if an error occurs, market chaos could ensue.

BTW, the FT quotes the developer of Turquoise, MillenniumIT, as saying that the 124-126 microsecond trading time will be eclipsed in the not too distant future as the next generation trading platforms that it is already developing go into operation.

Related Info:
London Stock Exchange to Buy Sri Lankan Technology Services Company Millennium IT to Gain New Trading System