Courtesy of WSJ reporters Tim Cave and Sarah Krouse                                                                

Bats Chi-X Europe, the region’s largest equities trading platform, has been endorsed by BlackRock Inc. BLK -1.77% for its new exchange-traded fund platform.

From next month, the fledgling stock exchange will list two of BlackRock’s iShares ETFs as secondary listings: the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Ucits ETF andiShares MSCI World Minimum Volatility MINV.LN -0.11% Ucits ETF.

BlackRock is the first to list ETFs on Bats Chi-X Europe, which received a stock exchange license from the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority in May. Until now Bats has been a secondary equities trading venue, but the exchange license allows it to diversify into primary listings for companies, derivatives products and ETFs.

Trading in European ETFs is highly fragmented, with issuers forced to list their products across a number of different exchanges. In Switzerland, for example, issuers are not permitted to market their products in the country without a local listing.

Bats is attempting to solve the issue of “fragmentation, transparency and liquidity” by creating a pan-European ETF listing venue, according to Mark Hemsley, chief executive of Bats Chi-X Europe, which is operated by BATS Global Markets, Inc. Continue reading →