CSE NewsMay 13, 2008

CNQ and ITS Announce Order Routing and Marketplace Connectivity Initiative

CNQ and ITS Announce Order Routing and Marketplace Connectivity Initiative
Dealers around the world can now connect through a single access point

Toronto, ON (May 13, 2008) – Canadian Trading and Quotation System Inc. (“CNQ”) and ITS Online Ltd (“ITS”) today announced the immediate launch of the “Pure Compass” order router, which now offers clients the opportunity to connect to Canadian marketplaces with a single point of access that efficiently meets their regulatory and client best execution obligations with a high capacity/low latency application. This initiative represents a significant enhancement to the services offered by the Pure Trading marketplace.

Customers now have access to Pure Compass which is based on proven technology and market linkages currently servicing the largest percentage of the order flow generated by the Canadian trading community. Aimed primarily at facilitating the introduction of new order flow to the Canadian market, Pure Compass provides all entrants with the tools needed to participate in Canada’s emerging multiple marketplace environment, including the ability to enter inter-market sweep orders.

Under the terms of the arrangement, ITS will contribute operational expertise and industry leading order routing technology, with the sales, marketing, and customer administration components of the service being delivered by CNQ.

“I have witnessed the first few months of activity in a multi-market environment, and talked to a number of dealers, vendor firms and the market regulators, and it is clear that the industry is looking for effective order routing and market access solutions,” said Stephen Plut, Managing Director of ITS. “Enabling clients to take advantage of the benefits of multiple marketplace trading, while giving them the tools to dynamically manage their regulatory and client obligations is the goal of this venture.”

“Delivering the routing and market connectivity solutions required by the industry will significantly reduce the cost for dealers to manage order flow across the new marketplaces such as CNQ’s Pure Trading facility. This has been designed to allow users to select their preferred venues for posting and taking liquidity,” said Ian Bandeen, Vice-Chair and CEO of CNQ. “By offering this service in combination with ITS, CNQ and Pure Trading are taking the lead in making the benefits of sophisticated order routing technologies available to all of our customers at a competitive cost”.

About ITS

ITS Online Ltd / Integrated Transaction Systems Ltd (ITS) is a dynamic company providing software and solutions to the Brokerage and Equity Trading Industry. ITS’s focus is to provide very high performance software for trading systems. Current applications including the ITS Smart Order Router, ITS Trader-Lite Workstation, ITS DMA and a full line of Trading Gateway applications. In business for over 10 Years, ITS counts most of the leading brokerages operating in Canada as customers.

About CNQ

Pure Trading provides an effective and cost efficient alternative for the trading of Canadian equity securities. It is the second major initiative of CNQ, which launched the first and only new Canadian stock exchange in over 70 years in 2003, and which continues to steadily add to its complement of listed companies, participating dealers and trading volumes. For more information please visit the websites at www.puretrading.ca and www.cnq.ca.

For more information please contact:

 ITS: Stephen Plut
Managing Director
416-233-6674/[email protected]

 
Pure Trading: Ian Bandeen
Vice-Chair and CEO Director,
CNQ
416-572-2000 ex 2265
[email protected] Lida Preyma
Business Development & Marketing
Pure Trading
416.572.2000 ex 2285
[email protected]