Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris bourses in £25m IT merger

Euronext, the merged Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris stock exchange, is spending E40m (£25m) integrating its IT systems to create a single trading platform - despite continued confusion over the choice of software supplier.

A spokesman for Euronext said the exchange intends to build one trading system, one settlement system and one clearing system by the end of next year. Euronext will introduce the NSC trading system, which is already being rolled out in Paris and Brussels, into the Amsterdam Stock Exchange (AEX). All three bourses should be able to trade live on the system by next summer - putting 1,400 companies on one exchange.

But Euronext's spokesman admitted the time frame was a conservative estimation. He said: "On the trading side there are a few differences in the version we roll-out. Brussels will have to have a different version from AEX and ParisBourse because of the difference in volumes and the way the market functions."

He added that while most of the software has already been chosen, there were still questions over the provider of the settlement system.

"The settlement system is a difficult issue. We had chosen Sicovam but it is now in merger talks with Euroclear and while they are effectively nearing the end of negotiations, Euroclear is also talking to CIK and Necigef - the companies providing settlement software to the Belgian and Dutch exchanges respectively. So we will have to wait and see what happens," he said.

Clearing 21 from ClearNet has been chosen as the clearing software and is expected to be implemented by next winter.

However, the spokesman added that Brussels and Amsterdam exchanges are technologically inferior to the Paris bourse, and many changes will be needed to bring Euronext into line with the latest trading technology.

He said: "Amsterdam still uses the open outcry method, which is also used in Frankfurt and Brussels, where you have open pits with traders waving bits of paper and shouting. They need to phase out the paper process. We haven't had paper in French markets since the 80s."

Euronext claimed that although the merger of the bourses will be effective from September, trading of shares on the unified system will not begin until next year.

The spokesman added: "IT issues are usually the problems that take the longest to resolve."