London remained the top European location with $154 billion of hedge fund assets under management in June 2004, a figure that represents 70% of the European total.
The results come as part of a new edition of IFSL’s “International Financial Markets in the UK” report that showed international business in the UK financial sector has extended its recovery from 2003 into 2004.
Additionally, UK participants in the Eurex exchange accounting for 46% of contracts in the first three quarters of 2004, up from 45% in 2003 and 41% in 2002. Overall, trading at Euronext.liffe totaled 549 million contracts in the first eight months of 2004, up a fifth on the same period last year. The volume of trading on the London Metals Exchange and the International Petroleum Exchange also reached record levels.
The share of global foreign equity trades booked at the London Stock Exchange dropped to 43% in the first nine months of 2004 from 45% in 2003. Trading in UK listed companies on the London Stock Exchange totaled £1,751bn in the first nine months of 2004, up 29% on the same period last year.
Globally, hedge fund assets increased by a third in the first half of this year to over $1.0 trillion. Other recoveries were noted in global investment banking revenue, which now totals £33.5 billion in the first three quarters of 2004 compared with £40.7 billion generated during the whole of 2003. Mergers and acquisitions advisory accounted for 38% of income (up from 34% in 2003) with the remainder split equally between equity and fixed income underwriting (34% and 31% in 2003). Overall, the UK was the source of a quarter of European revenue.