EU Antitrust Watchdog Probes Deutsche Boerse, Nasdaq Over Financial Derivatives — Update

By Edith Hancock

The European Union's antitrust regulator opened an investigation into exchanges Deutsche Boerse and Nasdaq over their handling of financial derivatives.

The European Commission said Thursday that it was looking into concerns that Deutsche Boerse and Nasdaq entities might have agreed to not compete for the listing, trading and clearing of financial derivatives--contracts with their value tied to a specific asset such as stocks or commodities--in the EU. The commission said it would investigate whether the exchanges allocated demand, coordinated prices and shared commercially sensitive information to do so.

The EU's executive arm inspected the exchanges' premises in September 2024 as it scrutinized their business practices before starting a formal probe.

Nasdaq said the probe related to a cooperation between its Helsinki Stock Exchange and Deutsche Boerse's Eurex, launched in 1999.

"Nasdaq believes that the cooperation was lawful. It was discussed with the European Commission when it was announced, and no objections were ever raised until after the cooperation had ended," the group said in a statement.

Deutsche Boerse and Eurex said they were engaging with the commission, and that their cooperation was intended to be pro-competitive. "In particular, it aimed to build deeper liquidity in the respective Nordic derivatives markets and create efficiencies. It provided clear benefits for market participants and was public," a spokesperson said.

Write to Edith Hancock at edith.hancock@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 06, 2025 07:53 ET (12:53 GMT)