Speaking at a conference for fund managers in London, Euronext.liffe's Executive Director of Marketing, Fraser Cowie, said that audited figures for the year to the end of April showed that equity derivatives volumes on the Amsterdam market in the first four months of the year were up 35% on the same period of 2002.
Commenting on the news, Alan van Griethuysen, Executive Director of Sales at Euronext.liffe said: "Euronext.liffe's Amsterdam market is showing robust growth in 2003. Total volume in equity products is up 35%: volumes in equity options are up 25% and volumes in equity index products are up 80%. These strong increases make Amsterdam the fastest-growing market for equity options and index options in Europe".
Following the completion of the migration from floor to the SWITCH screen trading system, three months ahead of schedule in December 2002, volumes have grown strongly on the Amsterdam market.
The transfer of the Amsterdam market from SWITCH to LIFFE CONNECT® - the state-of-the-art derivatives trading platform which is being used to support Euronext.liffe's derivatives market - is scheduled to take place by the end of Q2, 2004. 16 members of other Euronext.liffe markets have applied for fast track membership of the Amsterdam derivatives market ahead of the move to LIFFE CONNECT® so that they can trade Dutch derivatives products.
The transfer of all Euronext.liffe markets to a single trading platform, LIFFE CONNECT® , is designed to create a single market for derivatives, reducing costs for both Euronext.liffe itself and its customers, and making cross-border trading easier and cheaper.
The number of transactions on the Amsterdam cash market has also grown strongly in the year-to-date, up 29% on the same time last year.
