Turquoise said it expects to immediately attract a lot of business in September thanks to the support of nine investment banks, including Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Merrill Lynch, which are expected to account for half of trade. Lederman is currently on a roadshow in Europe to speak with potential customers, including banks, brokers and liquidity providers.

Senior executive Joost van der Does de Willebois of the Amsterdam Euronext stock exchange told the Dutch daily he is not worried about the new competition as he believes Euronext can benefit from the current distrust among banks due to the credit crisis.

Last week US share trading platform Bats Trading said it would be entering the European market before the end of the year. It declined to say whether it would be starting up in Amsterdam.