Especially strong growth was seen in the euro repo market, year on year, more than quadrupling its outstanding volume during the first half of 2003, to 11.2 billion euros on average, with peaks as high as 14 billion euros. The euro repo market has 24 participants in the meantime, twice as many as in summer 2002. Eurex Repo is the only electronic market that offers repo transactions with the shortest possible term of just one night, or so-called overnight euro repo transactions, which are guaranteed through the central counterparty, Eurex Clearing AG. The volume traded in this short-term segment rose to more than 5 billion euros in June. Moreover, Eurex has now become the market leader in repo trading with German Jumbo Pfandbriefe, Eurex said.
The Swiss franc repo market, which has existed since June 1999, is also showing strong growth: 40 billion euros in outstanding volume on average corresponds to a rise of about 26 percent in the first half of 2003 compared with the same period of 2002. A total of 119 participants are active in the CHF market at present. However, Eurex is expecting another 80 participants to come on board within the next two years, when the Swiss National Bank (SNB) starts managing its Lombard facility via Eurex Repo, as announced, in early 2004 (as of 2004, a bank that has a Lombard credit limit can make use of this facility on short notice via Eurex Repo to bridge an unexpected liquidity squeeze).
Smooth processing of the transactions on Eurex Repo is guaranteed by Eurex Clearing AG, which functions as the central counterparty for the buyer and the seller. Eurex is the only exchange organization worldwide that provides the market with all clearing services for the entire fixed-income segment, in addition to trading.
