Amsterdam topples post-Brexit London as Europe’s top share-trading hub

While the business is relatively low-margin, it illustrates how some of the Square Mile’s decades-long dominance of European finance is eroding

Other areas including euro swap trading have also shifted from the British capital to both the European Union and Wall Street

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The Oude Kerk, Amsterdam’s oldest building, is seen near a bar closed because of the Dutch city’s coronavirus lockdown on Sunday. Amsterdam overtook London as Europe’s largest share trading centre last month. Photo: AP

Published: 10:15pm, 11 Feb 2021Updated: 11:01pm, 11 Feb 2021

Amsterdam overtook London as Europe’s largest share trading centre in January after Brexit saw about half of the city’s volumes move to the continent.

An average 9.2 billion euros (US$11 billion) of shares a day were traded on various Dutch venues in January, a more than fourfold increase from December, according to data from Cboe Europe. That compares to average daily volumes in London of 8.6 billion euros.

The data does not account for the return of Swiss share trading to London, which only resumed last week. That may see the British capital edge back ahead in February, although its average daily volumes will still be well below historic levels.

Overview of Amsterdam's stock exchange interior in 2019. Photo: Reuters

Britain lost its rights to access the single market on December 31 and the European Union has not permitted investors inside the bloc to trade shares in companies such as Airbus SE and BNP Paribas SA from the UK. That has seen more than 6 billion euros of daily EU share trading leave London since the start of the year.

While the business is relatively low-margin, it is an illustration of how some of the Square Mile’s decades-long dominance of European finance is eroding away after Brexit. Other areas including euro swap trading have also shifted from the British capital to both the EU and Wall Street.