London's International Financial Futures and Options Exchange (Liffe) says it has passed the 500 user mark for dealing room registrations for the Connect electronic trading platform.
Over the last two years uptake of Liffe Connect has steadily increased, from 189 sites in March 2000 – 75% of which were located in the UK – to over 500 sites worldwide today - 60% of which are located outside the UK.
In 2001 Liffe traded a record 216 million contracts, a 65% increase on the total volume of 131 million contracts traded in 2000.
Hugh Freedberg, Liffe’s chief executive, comments: "From a start of 61 UK sites in 1998 we now have 501 sites in 64 cities in 25 countries across three time zones. Every month Liffe Connect is installed in another 10 dealing rooms around the world."