EBS, Refinitiv, Underperform Peers in February, CME Better

Both EBS and Refinitiv underperformed their peers in month-on-month performance in February, in spite of the spike in geopolitical tensions towards the end of the month. EBS’ owner, CME Group, meanwhile, did appear to benefit from increased volatility.

EBS had average daily volume (ADV) of $66.8 billion, the highest the platform has seen since March 2021, when it handled $74.9 billion. This represents a 7.6% month-on-month increase, but is actually down 4.6% on February 2021 – the only platform to report a year-on-year dip in spot activity.

There was better news for EBS’ owner CME Group, however, with an estimated notional ADV of $85 billion in its FX futures and options product suite, up 15.6% from January and up 8% year-on-year. Within that data, CME says FX options volume was up 17% year-on-year – likely a response to the growing tensions and then conflict in Ukraine.

At face value it was a notable month for Refinitiv, with the platform breaching the $100 billion per day mark for the first time since the pandemic hit in March 2020, however it also underperformed on spot volumes with representing a 6.2% increase in activity from January and a more impressive 13.2% annual increase.

The Refinitiv data also presents the first opportunity for a glimpse at FX swap activity, while NDF volumes were up across the board at those other platforms to report data, Refinitiv’s non-spot ADV – which is largely FX swaps – came in at $368 billion, a 6.6% decline from January, when speculation over Fed policy was probably at its peak, but up 5.5% year-on-year.

Earlier this month the first group of platforms to report data indicated an 11-15% increase in activity from January and more mixed data year-on-year.