European exchanges benefit from global tariff led activity
18th June, 2025|Radi Khasawneh
US policy shifts have boosted demand from institutional investors to redirect flows into European assets and derivatives markets, senior executives at the two largest European exchanges have said.
Speaking at the FIA International Derivatives Expo in London on Wednesday, the chief executive of Eurex said a spike in volumes since the US announced wide ranging tariff plans reflected a reallocation from international clients.
“In terms of composition of volumes, we see that there is an increased interest from clients outside of Europe to start trading more European products,” Robbert Booij said on a panel. “There is also talk about a shift and diversification taking place in asset management mandates – these typically take a few years to come into effect so it's not going to be quick – but there is change happening there.”
The chief executive and chairman of the managing board at Euronext agreed there is renewed interest in European markets, arguing recent trends point to a permanent shift in market structure.
“One of the unexpected facts around these events was that assets that are supposed to be uncorrelated all went in the same direction,” Stephane Boujnah said. “Donald Trump succeeded in creating unprecedented correlation between assets that are supposed to be correlated. But what is more important is what it means going forward.
“The reason why this is [a] lasting [effect] is twofold in my view. The first is that this is not a market correction. It’s a fundamental global reallocation of trust. People are moving trust away from the US as we used to know it, and that creates a significant rotation of assets. The other trend is that derivatives are about risk management, and risk management is about coping with the unknown and unpredictability.”
US exchanges have also seen activity boosted. CME Group’s trading volume was up 13% last month compared to May 2024. The US group saw a 33% year-on-year increase in EMEA trading of equity index products in the first quarter, according to figures published by the exchange, driven by activity in US indices.
