The sluggish level of volumes in Europe's equity markets have brought into question the existence of some of the new breed of share trading facilities that have deluged the region’s markets over the last three years.

A report released yesterday by consultancy Aite Group on the structure of the European equity market argued that if the depressed level of trading activity in Europe continues, some so-called multilateral trading facilities "will need a larger slice [of market share] to survive, let alone be profitable".