French market participants can now trade directly on Eurex US following approval from the French regulatory authorities.

Eurex US was recognized as a foreign exchange pursuant to a Decree of the French Minister of Economy, Finance and Industry, after prior clearance by the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF).

Market participants from 15 countries can now access Eurex US: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, USA and the United Kingdom. Currently, a total of 36 European member firms are connected to Eurex US.

Satish Nandapurkar, CEO of Eurex US, said: "With our French market participants now on board, our European customer base is very strong and we can continue to connect our US and European customer bases in US Treasury futures."

He added: "Our order book has been showing increased breadth and diversity, partly due to heightened trading flow coming out of Europe. Participation in our European hours market making program has also been strong".

Eurex US introduced a new market making program for European trading hours in July, complementing the existing program for core US trading hours.

Trading on Eurex US began on February 8, 2004. The exchange currently lists futures and options on 2-, 5- and 10-year Treasury notes and on 30-year Treasury bonds; pending approval of international regulatory authorities, Eurex US will expand its offering to include futures and options on Euro-denominated interest rates and indices as well as U.S. indices.

Eurex US has been recognised by the French Minister of Economy, Finance and Industry pursuant to Article 1 of the French Decree No. 90-948 of October 25, 1990.