The much-contested data revenues of European exchanges rose again in the first quarter of 2026, Euronext storming forward with a 6.5% year-on-year increase to €69.3 million.
The increase comes before the exchange’s significant new market data prices come into play this October, which will increase costs for some users by up to 900%.
READ MORE: Euronext declares war on alternative venues with 900% data fee hikes
Revenue growth within Euronext’s advanced data solutions revenues was primarily the result of increased retail interest, according to the exchange group.
During an earnings call, chief financial officer Giorgio Modica commented, “This resilient growth highlights the strong retail demand, the ongoing monetisation of our diversified dataset, and the contribution of Euronext Athens.”
“The number of retail investors looking at Euronext data has doubled in two years. The momentum is not slowing down, signaling a revival of retail investor engagement in Europe.”
Nicolas Rivard, global head of cash equity and data services, later added, “We have new clients taking Euronext data and sharing it with their retail investors. That’s both driven by existing clients and new clients.”
On the retail point, CEO and chairman Stephane Boujnah called the European savings and investment union (SIU) part of a “profound transformation” for the bloc.
“That’s going to have an impact. It may not be spectacular immediately, but it will make, over time, the EU market closer in terms of the allocation of household savings to what we can observe in the US,” he affirmed.
In overall equities revenues, Euronext swept into the lead with €128.9 million, up 55% QoQ and up 28% YoY.
“Euronext market share on cash equity averaged 64.1%,” Modica noted.
Elsewhere, equity trading revenues at Deutsche Borse and LSEG rose in tandem. The UK exchange saw revenues rise 9% QoQ and 28% YoY to €131 million, while the German bourse was up 14% QoQ and 9% YoY to €95 million.
LSEG’s data and analytics division reported £1 billion (€1.2 billion) in revenues in Q1 2026, up 2.1% YoY. This was driven by increased activity in the group’s data and feeds business, which reported £475 in revenues over the quarter – up 4.6% YoY.
Greater activity in the segment was the result of increased demand for real-time data services, LSEG stated, traffic for which CEO David Schwimmer stated was up 33% YoY.
Schwimmer also emphasised the increasing use of LSEG data in AI applications.
“We are embracing that through our LSEG Everywhere strategy, delivering AI-ready data to our customers in their preferred environment, embedding our data in their AI-powered solutions and agents,” he said.
However, he added, “We do not make our real-time data available through model concept protocols because of the latency requirements of real-time. Could you do it technically? Yeah. It’s just given the current construct and the customer demand, that’s not practical.”
Schwimmer shared the firm’s intentions to add new products, including private market data, into its offering.
Deutsche Borse does not break out its data revenues, instead incorporating them into the ‘other’ segment of financial derivatives within the trading and clearing segment.
In Q1 2026, revenues for this division were up 3% YoY to €63 million.
Jens Schulte, chief financial officer, commented, “Cash equities trading was positively influenced by an increase in volatility and ongoing demand for both European equities and ETFs.”
He went on to call financial derivatives “the standout performer” within trading and clearing.
“Our equity derivatives business delivered a solid performance as well with net revenue up 9% in the quarter. This increase was not primarily due to higher volumes, it was due to higher quality. The increase in revenue was driven by favourable product mix and the benefits of pricing measures we implemented this year,” he stated.
