Opposition to formidable plans to slash market hours is mounting after the boss of a number one European exchange rejected claims {that a} shorter buying and selling day can increase variety and work-life steadiness.Jos Dijsselhof, chief govt of Zurich-based Six Alternate — Europe’s third-largest stock exchange by revenues, instructed Monetary Information that trimming stock market hours is not going to assist entice ladies to what has traditionally been a male-dominated career.“To me shortening trading hours is more treating the symptom and not the cause,” Dijsselhof mentioned. “You just need to make sure you have a diverse labour force and enough women in your business. What the trading hours are will not make a big difference.” Dijsselhof’s views are in stark distinction to outcomes of a session by the London Stock Alternate, revealed in June, which discovered {that a} majority of UK buyers need to reduce the buying and selling day by 90 minutes.Nevertheless, the LSE additionally mentioned that any modifications to stock market hours would must be “broadly aligned” to European exchanges. The LSE is awaiting responses from different European bourses earlier than it makes any modifications.The choice to slash buying and selling hours rests with stock exchanges.European buying and selling hours are the longest on the planet, beginning at 8am and ending at 4.30pm. Plans to trim the buying and selling day may by no means come to fruition if there’s a lack of harmonisation between the LSE and different European exchanges.“I have a couple of simple rules of business, and one of them is ‘if it’s not broken, don’t try to fix it’,” the Swiss Stock Alternate boss added. “I don’t see anything broken in the current trading hours. So I would support keeping it ‘as is’.”The Federation of European Securities Exchanges, a foyer group that represents 36 stock exchanges in Europe together with Six Alternate, mentioned earlier this month that shortening the buying and selling day “would be a move in the wrong direction and detrimental to European markets”.FESE added that the transfer would have “no impact on employee wellbeing”, as a result of some buying and selling venues, corresponding to OTC markets, already function outdoors of regular stock exchange hours.Bolsas y Mercados Españoles, the Spanish stock market operator that was acquired by Six final month, mentioned that “the negative impact on the interplay of markets and the economy in Europe has been left aside in this debate”.Stéphane Boujnah, chair and chief govt of one among Europe’s greatest stock exchange operators Euronext, identified in April that shortening buying and selling hours may find yourself harming liquidity. Euronext is because of launch the findings of its session on trimming the buying and selling day later this month.The novel proposal of slashing buying and selling hours was first revealed by Monetary Information in August 2019. The Affiliation for Monetary Markets in Europe, which represents the area’s banks, and the Funding Affiliation, the commerce physique representing the UK’s £7.7tn asset administration trade, argued that reducing hours will give merchants a greater work-life steadiness and entice extra ladies to the career.The Funding Affiliation hit out in opposition to FESE’s stance on the talk, branding European buying and selling hours as “outdated”.Galina Dimitrova, director of capital markets on the IA, mentioned: “We need to call time on Europe’s outdated trading hours, which no longer reflect the reality of how markets function and hold back the creation of more inclusive workplaces.“The results from the London Stock Exchange consultation were clear; the case for shorter hours has been made and traders want to see change. We will look forward to the outcome of the Euronext consultation and hope that this will lead to the reduction in market trading hours.”Xavier Rolet, who headed the LSE for greater than eight years, has branded the proposals “irrelevant” as human buying and selling is on its approach out. Consultants estimate that 80% of worldwide cash fairness buying and selling is now digital.“This is a storm in a tea-cup, largely irrelevant in the longer run,” said Rolet in an interview with FN last month. “The transition to AI trading will happen over time, particularly after the advent of quantum computing and communications.” To contact the writer of this story with suggestions or information, electronic mail Shruti Tripathi Chopra
