Bats Global Markets, Inc. (Bats: BATS) today completed its acquisition of Javelin SEF, LLC (Javelin), a swap execution facility (SEF).
The deal was announced on August 11, 2016 and received approval from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on October 23, 2016.
Javelin has been integrated with Bats Hotspot, the institutional FX trading platform, in order to enable trading in non-deliverable forwards (NDFs). Hotspot already offers trading in outright deliverable forward contracts.
Dodd Frank provisions mandate that certain market participants trade NDFs on SEFs. According to the latest Bank for International Settlements (BIS) triennial survey, total NDF daily turnover was $127bn as of 2014, and accounted for 19% of all forward currency trading globally.
Chris Concannon, CEO of Bats Global Markets said:
This acquisition broadens the instruments available to trade on Bats Hotspot, and reiterates our commitment to developing our FX marketplace. I congratulate both the Bats and Javelin associates on their tenacity and dedication in swiftly and successfully closing this deal.
Hotspot’s average daily volume in October was $25.3bn.
In the same month, Bats announced a transaction agreement with CBOE Holdings under which CBOE will acquire Bats.