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"The European market has been the beneficiary of its ability to match buyers and sellers, and to print tickets automatically. When markets are volatile, having certainty of execution is invaluable" |
The level of operating efficiency attainable through electronic trading has proved invaluable to dealers. In Europe, this can be seen keenly in the credit default swap market. Creditex, which along with GFI and Icap holds a 90% share of the European inter-dealer market, executed more than $2.5 trillion in notional value of CDS transactions last year alone. Electronic trading now accounts for more than 45% of inter-dealer transactions in Europe. "There has been a lot of progress in Europe," says Mazy Dar, chief strategy officer at Creditex. "Since early 2004, electronic CDS trading has been growing consistently."
Surprisingly, though, the US has not followed Europe in this. Electronic derivatives trading was launched in the US three years ago but, against expectations born of experience in the European market, it was not widely embraced.
Certainty is invaluable
Inter-dealer brokers have had a Europe-first approach to electronic derivatives trading.