NPLTime® offers the financial sector a certified precise time signal directly traceable to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) and independent of the Global Positioning System, or GPS. Through this new service, TMX Atrium® will provide its customers with a trusted timestamp at the distribution point, which is certified by NPL and fully compliant with the FINRA OATS 7430 timing traceability requirement. A traceable, accurate time standard ensures that transactions time stamped with NPLTime® can be used for compliance and audit purposes.

The provision of NPLTime® on the TMX Atrium® network enables the TMX Atrium® community, initially in the UK and later on in Europe and North America, to receive a time signal that cannot be disrupted by outside interference and can be implemented using existing infrastructure. The certification of the time at the distribution point by NPL removes the need for time synchronization between various locations in the trading infrastructure, further reducing the complexity of time management.

"The global demand for higher degrees of time stamp accuracy continues to grow," said Emmanuel Carjat, Managing Director, TMX Atrium®. "TMX Atrium® is very pleased to enter into this agreement with NPL to better equip our clients with the ability to comply with various regulatory obligations around the world."

"NPLTime® is an extension of many decades of time dissemination expertise," said Leon Lobo, Strategic Business Development, Time & Frequency, NPL. "By providing NPLTime® over the TMX Atrium® network, the financial industry stands to benefit from NPL's capability to ensure that time stamped trades can be traced to UTC."

NPL operates one of the world's most accurate atomic clocks, NPL Csf2, which is accurate to one second every 158 million years, and are developing the next generation of optical atomic clocks which will be accurate to one second in 14 billion years.