The London Stock Exchange is cutting around 120 jobs and considering dumping its TradElect platform, as new chief Xavier Rolet looks to restructure the business and fend off competition from a slew of smaller but nimble competitors.
The job losses - affecting around 10% of the LSE's workforce - are expected to be shared equally between London and Milan. The redundancy process is already underway.
Finextra understands Rolet is also considering the future of TradElect, the exchange's £40 million electronic trading system.
Rolet hinted that the exchange will be re-examining its technology platform when he took over last month. The LSE currently offers trading at 3.7 milliseconds and is looking to cut this to less than a millisecond to compete with the likes of Chi-X, Bats and Turquoise.
Although no final decision has been made on TradElect's future, it is now two years old, and the exchange must consider if the expense of maintaining and upgrading it is worthwhile.
In a brief statement, the exchange says: "With a new CEO at the helm, LSEG has been reviewing its operational structure and has identified changes to how it is organised. These changes will flatten the group's structure and improve the speed of decision making. Inevitably, these changes will lead to job losses as well as new opportunities for some staff."