Eurex CEO Bets on Retail, Repo and a "Hybrid CCP" for Digital Era

Eurex CEO Robbert Booij sits down with FOW's Radi Khasawneh at the FIA IDX conference in London to lay out an ambitious strategy for the digital era—one built around unlocking European household savings, deepening options liquidity, and building a "hybrid CCP" to bridge traditional and digital finance. Shot by a JLN video team for the JLN Industry Leader video series, produced in partnership with FOW. Booij frames much of Eurex's agenda around Europe's Capital Markets Union and Savings and Investments Union, initiatives designed to move money out of bank deposits and into the wider economy. As retail demand rises, Eurex is working with institutional and market-maker clients to ensure liquidity and product supply are ready. "Retail has been a renewed priority for us," he says. On the options front, Booij calls the redesigned liquidity provider program for Euro Stoxx options "a really massive success," addressing buy-side complaints that liquidity clustered around at-the-money strikes. Extended in January to daily and weekly options, the program now covers the full strike spectrum and acts as a "billboard" signaling capacity. An extension to single names is targeted for the first quarter of 2027. On volatility benchmarks, he notes usage climbs during stress, pointing to elevated activity around the March Iran attack. Eurex is also lowering access barriers with sponsored access, a fast "one gig prime" connection structured to keep clients outside HFT regulation, and a cloud access point for cloud-native firms. Booij calls the fixed-income roadmap Eurex's key priority, highlighting strong growth in repo and interest-rate swaps amid rising European debt issuance and the EMIR active account requirement. New bond portfolio margining lets clients offset repo positions, reinforcing what he calls "the home of the euro yield curve." Looking ahead, Booij explains how Eurex aims to position its clearing arm as a "hybrid CCP," bridging digital and traditional markets through initiatives like HQLAx for digital collateral, support for the ECB's central bank digital currency work, and collaboration with Clearstream on on-chain instruments. He also details the Kraken partnership, which integrates Eurex's payment system and enables NinjaTrader Europe to offer European retail clients direct access to CFTC-approved products. Finally, Booij offers advice for young people entering the industry amid the AI boom: use the tools, but guard your judgment. "Don't stop thinking. Don't outsource your thinking to an AI agent. Your own creativity and intelligence is a huge asset." Watch the full interview for the complete conversation. 1. What is the adoption rate and outlook for your same-day options? 2. Are you planning new strategies to boost the adoption of volatility benchmarks? 3. Is your goal to democratize access and usage for volatility products? 4. What is the update on your global strategy for cross-border flows? 5. How are you helping clients improve capital and balance sheet efficiency? 6. How do you leverage the Deutsche Börse ecosystem for digitalization? 7. What partnerships have you established to expand into new markets? 8. What are you seeing in the retail market? 9. What advice do you have for young people entering the industry? YouTube Chapters: 00:00 Retail & Capital Markets Union 00:40 Same-Day Options & Liquidity 02:12 Volatility Benchmarks & VSTOXX 02:46 Democratizing Market Access 04:16 Fixed Income & Swap Clearing 06:22 Balance Sheet & CCP Innovation 08:33 Digitalization & Group Ecosystem 09:20 Global Partnerships & Kraken 10:23 Retail Market Trends 10:59 Career Advice for the AI Era