Euronext Continues Diversification Drive into Foreign Exchange with FastMatch Acquisition
Euronext to acquire 90 percent stake in spot FX trading network FastMatch as exchanges continue their move into investment bank domain

The acquisition of FastMatch for an initial cash consideration of $153 million is Euronext’s first entrance into the $5.1 trillion daily FX market, as the organization continues to diversify its product offering and technology investments as part of its “Agility for Growth” corporate strategy.
FastMatch, established in 2012 by Credit Suisse and Forex Capital Markets (FXCM), provides buy-side and sell-side clients with access to diversified FX liquidity pools through datacenters in London, New York and Tokyo. The acquisition, pending regulatory approval, is expected to close in Q3 2017 and FastMatch management will retain a 10 percent stake in the business.
“The acquisition of FastMatch breaks new ground for Euronext through expansion into the FX market, the world’s largest traded asset class,” said Stéphane Boujnah, CEO of Euronext. “This will broaden the spectrum of products we provide to capital market users, whilst meaningfully diversifying our revenue and creating long-term value and growth for customers and shareholders.”
Euronext has become the latest exchange operator to venture into the global FX marketplace, historically an area of dominance for investment banks, after Deutsche Börse splashed out €725 million ($796 million) on foreign-exchange platform 360T in October 2015, while Bats Global Markets acquired institutional spot FX market Hotspot from KCG Holdings for $365 million at the start of the same year.
Euronext is also in the process of establishing its second dark pool venue, a multilateral trading facility (MTF) for block trading in European equities, scheduled to launch in the middle of this year. Danielle Mensah, head of cash markets and deputy head of markets and global sales at Euronext, spoke to Waters earlier this year on how the MTF will “bridge the gap between human trading and electronic execution.”
Only users who have a paid subscription or are part of a corporate subscription are able to print or copy content.
To access these options, along with all other subscription benefits, please contact info@waterstechnology.com or view our subscription options here: https://subscriptions.waterstechnology.com/subscribe
You are currently unable to print this content. Please contact info@waterstechnology.com to find out more.
You are currently unable to copy this content. Please contact info@waterstechnology.com to find out more.
Copyright Infopro Digital Limited. All rights reserved.
As outlined in our terms and conditions, https://www.infopro-digital.com/terms-and-conditions/subscriptions/ (point 2.4), printing is limited to a single copy.
If you would like to purchase additional rights please email info@waterstechnology.com
Copyright Infopro Digital Limited. All rights reserved.
You may share this content using our article tools. As outlined in our terms and conditions, https://www.infopro-digital.com/terms-and-conditions/subscriptions/ (clause 2.4), an Authorised User may only make one copy of the materials for their own personal use. You must also comply with the restrictions in clause 2.5.
If you would like to purchase additional rights please email info@waterstechnology.com
More on Emerging Technologies
Franklin Templeton’s great DeFi migration
TradFi’s money and DeFi’s tech will inevitably combine, says the asset manager’s futurist-in-residence.
S&P’s $1.8 billion buy, an FIA restructure, a tokenization craze, and more
The Waters Cooler: CAIS creates CAISey, BNY deploys EquiLend, and more in this week’s news roundup.
When it comes to cybersec, the walls of separation are too high
Waters Wrap: Anthony examines some recent statements made by prominent cybersecurity experts and why those words might ring hollow.
Larry Fink: ‘We need to be tokenizing all assets’
The asset manager is currently exploring tokenizing long-term investment products like iShares, with an eye on non-financial assets down the road.
Examining how adaptive intelligence can create resilient trading ecosystems
Researchers from IBM and Wipro explore how multi-agent LLMs and multi-modal trading agents can be used to build trading ecosystems that perform better under stress.
Waters Wavelength Ep. 335: Some tech talk...kinda
This week, Wei-Shen and Tony talk about some recent events making headlines.
Moody’s exploring blockchain’s impact on digital bond ratings
Blockchain and crypto were meant to eliminate conventional finance’s risks, but Risk Live North America panelists said such risks have not been reduced, and new ones have been introduced.
S&P Global partners with IBM, Eventus launches Frank AI, Tradeweb expands algo execution abilities, and more
The Waters Cooler: Arcesium makes waves with Aquata Marketplace, NYSE Cloud flows into Blue Ocean Technologies, and more in this week’s news roundup.