CBOE to open London hub for VIX futures

CHICAGO (Reuters) - CBOE Holdings Inc , which runs the oldest and largest U.S. stock-options exchange, is planning to open a base in London for its fast-growing futures market as it tries to woo more clients from abroad.

CBOE Futures Exchange will establish its first non-U.S. hub in a London data centre next year, it said in a statement Thursday. The exchange offers trading in contracts tied to CBOE's popular VIX index, which investors use to bet on stock-market volatility.

The exchange also plans to extend trading hours for the contracts to nearly 24 hours from the current eight hours offered. Trading in the contracts before the open of the U.S. stock markets currently accounts for 5 percent to 8 percent of daily volume, the exchange said.

Although CBOE has long focused largely on the U.S. market, it has increasingly sought customers elsewhere, joining other U.S. financial exchanges hit by sluggish trading at home and eying overseas expansion for growth.

A London hub would give electronic traders there much faster access to CBOE's contracts than connecting to New York or Chicago.

(Reporting by Ann Saphir; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cboe-open-london-hub-vix-futures-192059197--finance.html

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