BATS Global Markets (BATS), a global operator of stock and options markets, today announced the iShares MSCI Norway Capped Investable Market Index Fund will begin trading today on BATS Exchange, the first of nine new exchange traded funds sponsored by BlackRock to begin trading on the Exchange beginning this week.
“Today marks an important milestone for BATS and we are pleased to welcome these new investment products from iShares, one of the leading global providers of exchange-traded products, to our market," said Joe Ratterman, Chairman and CEO of BATS Global Markets. “Our goal is to continue to attract dynamic and innovative companies to our market through our focus on customer needs and market quality.”
The announcement comes five weeks after BATS announced that firms could begin listing stocks on its Z exchange, either through initial offerings of stock to the public or transfers of existing listings from other venues.
To pull in listings, BATS last month said it would reward trading firms for putting up more competitive bids and offers in the securities of companies list on its electronic markets.
“Our competitive listing provider program is designed to incent market makers to dedicate their focus to providing liquidity and posting tight markets for an issuer, which obviously helps the issuer, but also makes markets better for all participants,” said Ratterman in a statement issued when BATS announced its filing with the SEC.
The nine iShares funds listing on BATS are based on MSCI indexes and are designed to provide investors an opportunity to access various international markets. Seven of the funds are scheduled to commence trading this week including:
iShares MSCI Norway Capped Investable Market Index Fund
iShares MSCI Australia Small Cap Index Fund
iShares MSCI Canada Small Cap Index Fund
iShares MSCI Denmark Capped Investable Market Index Fund
iShares MSCI Finland Capped Investable Market Index Fund
iShares MSCI Germany Small Cap Index Fund
iShares MSCI United Kingdom Small Cap Index Fund
Additional information on the BATS Listings program is available on
