Liffe

The London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange (LIFFE) was established in 1982. In its first ten years it offered contracts on interest rates denominated in most of the world’s major currencies. In 1992 LIFFE merged with the London Traded Options Market (LTOM), adding equity options products to its range. In 1996, it merged with the London Commodity Exchange (LCE), and, as a result, a range of soft and agricultural commodity contracts was added to its financial portfolio.

In January 2002, the purchase of LIFFE by Euronext was completed. LIFFE’s focus on short-term interest rate derivatives closely complemented Euronext’s expertise in a range of equity products. The derivatives businesses of Euronext and LIFFE were combined and renamed Euronext.liffe. Euronext.liffe has created a single market for derivatives, by bringing all its trading locations (London, Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Lisbon) and products together on a single electronic trading platform, LIFFE CONNECT®.

LIFFE has a diverse range of financial instruments (known collectively as derivatives). These products can be categorised under the following headings:

• short term interest rates (STIRs)
• bonds
• swaps
• equities
• commodities

Liffe is a Recognised Investment Exchange (RIE) based in London, supervised by the Financial Services Authority (FSA).