London Stock Exchange to shut loss-making derivatives exchange
London Stock Exchange Group to wind down CurveGlobal Markets project five years after it was launched
The London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) is closing derivatives exchange CurveGlobal Markets in a retreat from a market dominated by rivals in the US and Europe.
The platform for interest-rate derivatives will shut on January 28, according to a market notice posted on its website on Tuesday. Some contracts with no open interest are suspended immediately and certain trading hours will be shortened.
The venture, which debuted in 2016 with the backing of a consortium of banks and the Chicago Board Options Exchange, was designed to compete with Frankfurt-based Deutsche Börse and Intercontinental Exchange.
But it struggled to gain traction and required additional funding from its investors. The LSE’s annual report recorded an operating loss of £4m on the project in 2020. The group is entering a new era where the majority of its revenues come from data after completing the acquisition of Refinitiv earlier in 2021.
A spokesperson for LSE, which owns a 44% stake in CurveGlobal, didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Financial Times reported the notice earlier. Bloomberg, the parent company of Bloomberg News, competes with Refinitiv in providing financial news, data and information.
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