Eurex Repo says 2004 was a record year. The average outstanding value of repos cleared through its platform at end-November was up 21% year on year to Euros 52.4 billion (US$ 71.28 billion).
Eurex says the Euro repo market grew particularly strongly. By the end of November, average outstanding volume was up to Euros 15.5 billion (US$ 21.08 billion), up 31% on the previous year. The Swiss Franc Repo Market also enjoyed a strong rate of growth. The average outstanding volume rose to CHF 55.3 billion – up 17% on the year to end-November 2003.
“Despite a difficult year for bond markets, we have managed to further increase volumes in both the Euro and Swiss Franc Repo Markets,” says Marcel Naas, General Manager of Eurex Repo. “This shows that Eurex Repo’s electronic repo marketplaces have established themselves as a key player in collateralized financing.”
Eurex Repo attracted new participants in 2004. Eight new banks and financial services providers from the UK, France, Germany, and Switzerland were admitted, bringing the total number of banks trading on Eurex Repo up to 155, from nine different countries.
Eurex Repo is scheduled to launch a new product, Euro GC Pooling, on March 17. Euro GC Pooling will allow the company to offer cash-driven, international trading of a General Collateral Basket with over 9,000 ECB-eligible fixed-income securities.
Eurex says this will enable the Eurex Repo platform to increase efficiency in the trading and collateral management of collateralized money market transactions, and help repo market participants optimize their use of collateral.
Eurex Repo completed the technical preparations for the launch of Euro GC Pooling at the end of November. From the beginning of March, Euro GC Pooling participants will have access to a simulation environment that they can use to test the business process – from GC Pooling quote entry through to GC Pooling Collateral Management.