Big banks have started pulling their business out of Barclays’ “dark pool” after the British bank was sued by New York’s top securities regulator for allegedly misleading institutional investors over its anonymous trading venue.
Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse were among the institutions that yesterday withdrew from Barclays’ LX dark pool in the wake of the lawsuit from Eric Schneiderman, the New York attorney-general. Barclays said any drop in trading volumes at LX might be due to a technical glitch.
More than $13bn was wiped off the market value of the 10 biggest dark pool owners as analysts assessed who US prosecutors might target next. Shares in Barclays, which operates one of the biggest, lost more than 6 per cent, while shares in other large operators, including Credit Suisse, UBS and Deutsche Bank, also fell.