Liffe to go electronic earlier

LIFFE, LONDON'S international financial and futures exchange, has announced plans to bring forward electronic trading. Liffe, which is facing aggressive competition from other European futures exchanges, will start trading futures electronically from 12 April next year, rather than at the end of the second quarter.

Gilt futures will be the first futures contract to be traded on Liffe Connect, the new system, followed by index futures and bund futures. Short- term interest rate futures (STIR) contracts will be traded electronically from early July. As previously announced, electronic trading of individual equity options will start on November 30.

Brian Williamson, Liffe's recently appointed chairman, said: "Liffe has responded to the commercial demands of our customers by accelerating the introduction of Liffe Connect".