Benjamin Fussien, head of ETFs at Euronext reports that the 2018 results for the exchange were pretty stellar, with strong performance across all the business lines.
He focuses on the three pillars of the exchange’s strategy: corporate, listing and trading. These pillars lie within the exchange group’s strong belief in its federal model with all the different countries within the group having a crucial role in the future of the Euronext Group.
Key corporate activities last year include the creation of the centre of excellence for ETFs, Debt and Fund Listings at Euronext Dublin under the CEO Daryl Byrne, which comes post the acquisition of the Irish Stock Exchange.
“It’s a very good move for Euronext and Euronext Dublin as a whole,” Fussien (pictured) says.
Last month saw Euronext Dublin move onto the Optiq platform. “It’s a pretty significant move as it opens the Dublin market to more European investors,” Fussien says. The result is that the number of member firms trading Irish shares rose from 21 to 30 which adds to Euronext’s offering.
There is also a pending bid for the Oslo Stock Exchange in the wings. “We strongly believe in the value of the project to create a strong Nordic presence and that one of the group’s strengths is to work with different cultures across Europe.”
In terms of listings, the exchange group has enjoyed a strong start to the year with 43 new ETFs listed. “We also have a significant pipeline of new products and issuers coming to the market,” Fussien says, adding that there are some 1,200 ETF listings already.
“It’s a very significant number and we are pretty proud of that,” he says. “We are also working with ETF issuers in regards to cross listing or moving products within a new ETF domicile.”
Euronext has also been trimming its fee schedule, lowering its annual listing fees for providers in addition to offering an incentive for market makers.
“We have nearly halved the fees of ETF listing with two key components,” Fussien says.
These are a reduction of the existing annual fees for ETPs with assets under management above EUR100 million, plus a special incentive on volumes traded on the average daily volume, which means the larger the trade, the cheaper it is.
“The rationale is to be very competitive across European stock exchanges and encourage more on exchange trading which is beneficial to investors offering transparency and also building confidence in ETFs as investment vehicles.”
In terms of trading, Euronext is very close to launching Euronext ETF Access, which is an ETF trading platform, designed, in partnership with the ETF industry, to be a one stop shop encompassing all European listed ETFs.
“This is massive as it gives investors the chance to trade all those ETFs on the platform with a standard book, NAV trading and RFQ. It’s a major milestone for both Euronext and the ETF industry in Europe,” Fussien says.
“It is going to increase liquidity, improve efficiency, lower costs and boost transparency, as well as provide an alternative to trading OTC.”
