Europe – Overall trading volumes of the MTS Group, Europe’s premier electronic fixed income market, hit €17 trillion in the period January to November, up 9% on the same period in 2003.

The average transaction volumes on a single counted basis averaged transactions of 85 billion euros. The number of MTS market participants grew by 2.5%, with more that 1,080 participants now in the network.

But revenue levels projected at €60.4m for the MTS Group will be flat compared with 2003, as the overall cost of trading per million for cash, repo and BondVision decreased by 10 euro cents to euro1.34, due to higher turnover and a growth in data sales.

Despite the difficult trading conditions in European fixed income, MTS says it benefited from its new product areas, including the addition of the new EU joiners, with the launch of MTS Poland in November.

NewEuroMTS, the market for the euro-denominated debt of new EU states, expanded, with average monthly volume up 211% for the five months ending in November, compared with the first six months of 2004

MTS says it also did well in the dealer to client area, where BondVision, its business to client arm, reported a 90% increase in volumes, as a result of a 35% increase in client numbers and a rise in dealer numbers to 31.

The group also launched dedicated markets for quasi-government bonds, benchmark linkers and Treasury Bills. Next month it plans to introduce an electronic swaps market in partnership with ATFox.

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