Common use of Equities Clause in Contracts

Equities. For standard UK market orders, and in normal market conditions, we may poll different execution venues, using automatic execution technology to identify the best terms available to us at the point of trading for the equity concerned. 1.1 UK Equities UK Equities are largely Executed via a Retail Service Provider (RSP) request for quote model. An RSP is a counterparty which is typically a London Stock Exchange (LSE) member firm which provides non-order book price quotes based on the price available on the LSE’s order books. The model has a highly automated price polling mechanism across a panel of RSPs to determine the best terms available at the point of Execution. In order to maximise the effectiveness of the price discovery process where applicable we also utilise the proprietary trading technology of Barclays Investment Bank for cross trading venue price discovery. Where orders cannot Execute automatically (typically due to large value or low liquidity) a manual price discovery model is used leveraging market data feeds and approved counterparty relationships which leads to Execution with the counterparty who offer the most competitive terms available (see Schedule 2, Part 4). There is typically no execution fee levied by the counterparties due to the fact that Execution is predominantly conducted under LSE member firm status. 1.2 International Equities International Equities are largely Executed using other entities’ Direct Electronic Access facilities. This provides us with the ability to select various trading strategies provided by an approved counterparty panel. We utilise the exchange membership and trading strategies offered by the counterparty. Orders are Executed via different execution venues which can be directly on exchange, via Multilateral Trading Facilities (MTFs) or directly with an approved counterparty. This is done either automatically via routing rules which are available on selected exchanges or routed manually by a dealer. Various proprietary trading algorithms of counterparties may also be used in determining the appropriate strategy to achieve best execution and an execution fee is levied by the counterparties.