Deutsche Boerse looks outside euro zone as transaction tax looms

Reuters reports:

Deutsche Boerse plans to expand operations outside the euro area to give non-European clients an opportunity to avoid the bloc's proposed financial transaction tax, four people familiar with the exchange operator's thinking told Reuters.

"The group has to be ready to offer its clients something outside the euro zone if domestic trading is no longer attractive because of the financial transaction tax," one of the sources said.

Deutsche Boerse's new derivatives clearing house in Singapore, due to come on line in 2015, is expected to play a significant role in the plans, the sources said.

In addition, Eurex Zuerich, a unit of the derivatives trading arm Eurex, has applied for a trading licence from the U.S. derivatives regulator, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

Taxes have consequences.