Amsterdam tops London as Europe's number one share trading hub

An average of €9.2bn shares a day were traded on Euronext Amsterdam and the Dutch arms of CBOE Europe and Turquoise in January, up by more than four times from December, reported the Financial Times on Thursday.

The surge came as trading volumes in London fell sharply to €8.6bn, according to the CBOE Europe.

The Netherlands has been welcoming a lot of the business lost by the UK since Brexit, mainly due to the ban on EU-based financial institutions trading in London because Brussels has not recognised UK exchanges and trading venues as having the same supervisory status as its own.

Around €6.5bn of deals were lost to the EU when the Brexit transition period concluded at the end of 2020.

Paris and Dublin also registered small increases in business in January, as trading orders were funnelled through the EU arms of Aquis and Liquidnet, respectively, instead of London.

For now, London has lifted a prohibition on trading of Swiss stocks, such as Nestlé and Roche, which are banned on EU exchanges.