Reuters Canada Ltd. and E*TRADE Technologies Corp. announced today their intent to jointly build an electronic institutional gateway between their equity order routing systems to be launched in early September.

The new gateway will enable customers of E*Trade Canada Securities Corp. to route U.S.-bound orders from the Reuters CXTrader desktop through the E*TRADE Canada institutional equity order routing network for execution on U.S. markets and electronic communications networks.

“This is great news for our clients,” said Jeanette Klockgether, president of Reuters Canada Ltd. “Our goal is to provide access to as many global markets as possible from the same desktop. E*TRADE Canada Securities Corp. is an ideal partner for this initiative because of its strong U.S.-bound electronic execution capabilities. We are very pleased to be offering this new connectivity.”

“This alliance further demonstrates E*TRADE Canada’s commitment to serving the institutional marketplace through a proprietary order routing and execution infrastructure in North America,” said Colleen Moorehead, Director of E*TRADE in Canada and president of E*TRADE Canada Securities Corp.

The gateway between Reuters, the global information, news and technology group, and E*TRADE Canada is being developed cooperatively by both companies and is expected to test in early September. CXTrader clients will be able to access the new service by using the same platform that serves their Canadian trading needs.

Upon launch of the new trading gateway, Reuters CXTrader users will be able to seamlessly enter an order to buy or sell a U.S. equity through E*TRADE ‘s network by designating E*TRADE as the destination.

E*TRADE Canada will receive orders through the new gateway, route them to the appropriate U.S. market for expedient execution, and return the fill report in real-time directly to the CXTrader user.

The two companies are touting the system’s ease of use and timeliness for U.S. execution. Since E*TRADE Canada will execute the transaction, CXTrader users will have a single settlement relationship with E*TRADE Canada regardless of the number of U.S. markets involved. The companies say this will simplify clearing, settlement and currency exchange, as well as help in controlling transaction costs. Reuters anticipates making the gateway available for a flat monthly fee per firm.

Reuters CXTrader is an electronic systems for equity order entry, order management and order routing, and has proprietary trading gateways to the Toronto Stock Exchange and Canadian Venture Exchange. The new infrastructure project will allow CXTrader users to route orders to U.S. markets — NYSE, NASDAQ, Amex, ECNs and Market Makers — via E*TRADE Canada, with E*TRADE Canada acting as the broker.