The cost of trading UK stocks is set to fall after the two largest clearers of UK equities signed a landmark deal to enable them to compete with each other for business.

Anglo-French clearing house LCH.Clearnet, which supports the London Stock Exchange, and EMCF, which clears for a range of trading systems including the LSE's main rival Chi-X Europe, today signed a memorandum of understanding to introduce "user choice clearing model".