US electronic securities market Nasdaq says it will complete the integration of its trading platform with the Inet ECN - which it acquired last year - by July, several months earlier than expected.
Chris Concannon, Nasdaq's executive vice president of transaction services, told reporters that the Inet ECN will be implemented and in place around six months ahead of schedule.
According to press reports, as of July the Inet system will replace Nasdaq's existing market platform as well as the Brut ECN, which the exchange acquired in 2004 from SunGard for $190 million.
Concannon says the integration is important for "strategic positioning" against competitors like the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). He says the Inet platform will be in place before Nyse rolls out a hybrid market, which will combine fast on-screen dealing systems with traditional floor-based market-making. Nyse received approval for its Hybrid trading model from the SEC earlier this week.
The speed of the Inet integration may also be used as factor in Nasdaq's bid for the London Stock Exchange (LSE). The UK exchange rejected a 950 pence a share cash bid from Nasdaq two weeks ago. Nasdaq executives were reportedly in London last week to meet with the LSE's top shareholders, such as Threadneedle Investments and Scottish Widows, in a bid to drum up support for the takeover offer.