On Xetra, Europe's leading market for ETFs and German equities, a new functionality was introduced today that allows block trading outside the order book through an RFQ (Request for Quote) workflow.

The Xetra EnLight service is available for all equities, ETFs and ETPs and enables clients to leverage the full range of Deutsche Börse Group’s service offering: from trading, clearing and settlement to post-trade reporting and market data dissemination.

“Our new RFQ service complements our existing offering for block trading. The process is designed to achieve a high degree of automation, while at the same time reducing settlement and counterparty risks,” says Michael Krogmann, Management Board member of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

Central counterparty clearing adds settlement netting of on- and off-order book transactions, failed trades management and client asset protection to RFQ trading.

“Clients are able to use our new RFQ service out of the box without the need for additional connectivity. We look forward to offering this new service with support of Europe’s leading market making firms, like Flow Traders, Optiver, Susquehanna, Mediobanca and Oddo Seydler,” adds Krogmann.

Folkert Joling, CTrO at Flow Traders, says: “Xetra’s EnLight RFQ solution can offer significant advantages to the ETF market. As an international market maker, Flow Traders welcomes the opportunity for more buy-side participants to directly interact with its quotes. This new functionality combines the best of direct pricing and the CCP process in one of Europe’s leading ETF markets.”