Interagency broker Instinet is delaying the launch of its alternative trading system in Canada to the first quarter of next year.
The platform - which has been re-named Chi-X Canada from ICX to match Instinet's brand in other countries - was expected to be operational in the fourth quarter of 2007.
But Instinet vice-present Tal Cohen has told reporters that the launch date has been pushed back to the middle of Q1 2008 in order to give investors time to adjust to a raft of new platforms being rolled out in the Canadian market to compete with the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX).
Instinet Chi-X Canada is one of handful of alternative platforms slated for launch within the next year, alongside markets operated by Liquidnet and Pure Trading and the Alpha ATS which is being set up by nine of the biggest investment dealers in Canada.