Celent

In a new report, Asian Securities Exchanges Landscape, Celent compares 16 Asian exchanges, examining major industry trends from 2002 to 2008. The listed exchanges in Asia are very profitable, experiencing high growth. In 2007, Asian equities trading was dominated by six exchanges, which accounted for 80 percent of total trading volume and 86 percent of trading value. However, equities trading activities at the Asian exchanges weakened significantly in 2008 as a result of the worldwide financial crisis.

The Asian exchanges derive their revenue from a variety of services. Equities trading is the most important revenue driver. Derivatives trading, listing and clearing services, and information products also constitute a major portion of the revenue for the exchanges. With a rapidly increasing number of initial public offerings occurring in Asia since 2003, listing revenues have been on the rise as well. The demand for market data has also been increasing, bringing the need for better information services to the forefront.

The derivatives market in Asia has continued to grow even since the start of the Asian crisis: 4.3 billion derivative contracts were traded at Asian stock exchanges in 2007. The Korea Exchange alone accounted for almost two-thirds of all derivatives contracts traded. Some exchanges provide a variety of instruments, while others specialize in a few derivative instruments. Stock index options are the most popular instruments in Asia, followed by commodity futures and stock index futures.

In contrast, the Asian bond markets are still underdeveloped. The number of bonds listed at the Asian exchanges has grown at a moderate rate compared to growth in the equities markets. Total bond trading value has remained more or less the same over the last six years. This trend, however, does not exhibit any slowdown in 2008 despite the slowdown in the equities markets.

“The Asian exchange industry, following a worldwide trend, has undergone major changes in structure and governance model, and many exchanges have become publicly traded companies through demutualization,” says Arin Ray, Celent analyst and author of the report. “The exchanges are highly profitable and growing, with an average profitability of almost 50 percent.”

The 34-page report contains 28 figures and two tables. A table of contents is available online.