The London Stock Exchange has moved to protect a major source of revenues for the UK Takeover Panel that had been under threat from new European trading laws that come into force this week, by ordering its member firms to continue to pay a Panel levy regardless of whether their trades are conducted on the LSE or rival platforms.

There had been fears that the emergence of new multi-lateral trading platforms, such as Project Turquoise, ahead of the implementation of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive on November 1 could jeopardise the Panel levy on share trades conducted on the LSE as market participants switched to other trading venues.