Asian exchanges lag Europe, US in 2019 - report

Asia’s exchanges lagged those in Europe and the Americas last year as revenue from Asia’s top exchange groups failed to keep pace with their international peers, a new report has found.

Revenue from Asia’s top exchange groups including Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, Japan Exchange, Singapore Exchange and Australia’s ASX Group rose 1.45% to $8,681.5bn in 2019.

This compares to a 5.5% hike to $14,128bn among the largest exchange groups in the Americas, comprising Intercontinental Exchange, CME Group, Nasdaq and Brazil’s B3, and a 2.75% increase in Europe to $12,779.4bn, driven by Deutsche Boerse, the LSE Group and Euronext.

The Exchange Global Share and Segment Sizing 2020 study from Burton-Taylor International Consulting, part of broker TP Icap, found global exchange revenue increased 3.5% in 2019 to $35,589bn. This was the smallest increase in the past four years and compares with a 10.8% hike in global exchange revenue in 2018.

CME Group, Singapore Exchange and B3 showed the strongest year-on-year revenue growth while Spain’s BME, Chicago’s Cboe Global Markets and Japan Exchange Group were the weakest performers last year, according to the study.

Exchanges’ trading, clearing and settlement units remained their top earners, representing 61.4% of total revenue, but these businesses also grew at the slowest rate in 2019, with revenue increasing just 1.5% last year.

Information services was the second largest revenue source yielding $6.2bn and the second fastest growing segment as the exchanges’ data arms increased 7.7% in 2019. Other business activities grew 13.4% to $1.9bn while technology and access was up 6.2% to $2.25bn and listings rose 1.8% to $2.8bn.

The world’s largest exchanges have seen volumes spike in recent months due to uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

CME Group reported in early April that it had seen this year record trading from outside its home market, including from Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Asia Pacific (APAC) regions.

The Hong Kong and Australian exchanges also reported in April spikes in March and first quarter trading volumes, including several new record highs as demand surged amid market turmoil caused by the coronavirus.

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEx) reported an average daily turnover of 1.3 million futures and options contracts in the first three months of 2020, a 9% increase on the same period last year.