The Frankfurt Stock Exchange

Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse (FWB®, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange) is one of the world’s largest trading centres for securities. With a share in turnover of around 90 per cent, it is the largest of Germany’s seven stock exchanges. Deutsche Börse AG operates the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, an entity under public law. In this capacity it ensures the functioning of exchange trading. In 1990, administration and operation of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange were transferred from the Frankfurt Chamber of Commerce and Industry to the newly founded Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse AG, which became Deutsche Börse AG shortly afterwards. The Frankfurt Stock Exchange thus formed the nucleus of today's Deutsche Börse Group.

The Frankfurt Stock Exchange facilitates advanced electronic trading, settlement and information systems. Thus, it is able to meet the steadily growing requirements of cross-border trading. Besides the specialist trading at Frankfurt Stock Exchange, its fully electronic trading system Xetra® is one of the leading electronic trading platforms in the world. With the launch of Xetra in 1997, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange succeeded not only in strengthening its own competitive position. It also created attractive framework conditions for foreign investors and market participants.

Today, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange is an international trading centre. This is also reflected in the structure of its participants. Of the approximately 200 market participants, roughly half are from countries other than Germany.

Address
Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse
60485 Frankfurt am Main
 

Management Board of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange

As the executive body of Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse (FWB®, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange), an entity under public law, the Management Board is responsible for all tasks not expressly assigned to other exchange bodies.

The legal foundations for the activities of the Management Board are anchored in the Stock Exchange Act. In accordance with its provisions, the Management Board is responsible for managing the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Individual executive tasks, assigned to the Management Board, include:

  • admission of persons and companies to exchange trading
  • decisions on the start, suspension, discontinuance and cessation of exchange trading
  • decisions on the price fixing of securities
  • definition of the organization and business procedures of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange
  • maintaining order on the trading floor premises

In line with the organisation model of a German stock corporation (Aktiengesellschaft) the management board is responsible for managing the exchange, whereas the Exchange Council is the responsible body for controlling and regulation. The management board of the exchange is responsible for managing the public services of an exchange and ensures that exchange-relevant laws, ordinances, standard terms and conditions and other regulations are implemented and complied with accordingly. In this context the Management Board may assign responsibility for the carrying out of these tasks to other persons.

As the executive body of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, an institution under public law with partial legal capacity, the Management Board is a public administration authority. It may issue administrative acts addressed to third parties and is thus a public authority under administrative law.

Management Board

  • Eric Leupold (Chairman)
  • Cord Gebhardt (Deputy Chairman)
  • Melanie Dannheimer
  • Frank Hoba
  • Michael Krogmann

Exchange Council

The Exchange Council is a key forum for discussing fundamental issues and developments at Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse (FWB®, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange). The Management Board requires the approval of the Exchange Council on all questions of fundamental significance. Among other things, the Exchange Council is responsible for the appointment, dismissal and supervision of the management board. Moreover, the Exchange Council issues the Exchange Rules, the Fee Regulations and the Conditions for Transactions on the Exchange.

The current Exchange Council of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange has 17 members who were elected on 2 December 2022 for a term of three years. The Exchange Council met for its constituent meeting on 23 January 2023.

Members of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange Exchange Council


Name

Company

Voter Group

Dr Matthias Zieschang
(Chairman of the Exchange Council)

Fraport AG, Executive Director Controlling and Finance

6 – issuers

Dr Georg Stocker
(Deputy Chairman of the Exchange Council)

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale, CEO

1b – credit institutions under public law

Nico Baader

Baader Bank AG, CEO

1c – other credit institutions

Dr Christine Bortenlänger

Deutsches Aktieninstitut e.V., Former Executive Member of the Board

7 – investors

Fabrizio Campelli

Deutsche Bank AG, Member of the Management Board

1c – other credit institutions

Moritz Counil

Kerdos Investment AG TGV, Member of the Executive Board

2 – capital investment companies

Prof. Peter Gomber

Goethe-University Frankfurt/Main

7 – investors

Sara Hennicken

Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA, Member of the Executive Board

6 – issuers

Kai Jordan

mwb fairtrade Wertpapierhandelsbank AG, Member of the Executive Board

4 – specialists

Mario Mattera

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG, Member of the Executive Board

1c – other credit institutions

Conor McTiernan

Susquehanna International Ltd., Member of the Management Committee and Deputy Head of Trading

3 – financial services providers

Oliver Szabries

ICF BANK AG Wertpapierhandelsbank, Deputy Spokesman of the Management Board

4 – specialists

Tobias Vogel

UBS Europe SE, Chair of the Management Board

1c – other credit institutions

Dr Jan Wicke

Talanx AG, Chief Financial Officer

5 – Insurance Companies

Eva Wunsch-Weber

Frankfurter Volksbank Rhein-Main eG, Chief Executive Officer

1a – cooperative credit institutions

Permanent Guest:
Marco Kreuter

Hessian Ministry of Economy, Transport, Urban and Regional Development

 

On the Exchange Council of Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse, two seats in voter group 1.c, other credit institutions, are currently vacant.

Market Surveillance ensures proper conduct of trading

The Market Surveillance ensures proper conduct of trading and that the determination of prices corresponds to the prevailing market situation on the stock exchange. Various institutions work closely together here. The aim of Market Surveillance is to protect investors and to create confidence in the market mechanisms.

The TSO monitors trading

The Trading Surveillance Office (Handelsüberwachungsstelle, henceforth referred to as ‘TSO’) is an independent exchange body and performs and is responsible for trading surveillance. The TSO monitors trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (Xetra® as well as the Specialist-supported trading) including the derivatives exchange Eurex Deutschland. The TSO investigates irregularities and notifies the management boards of the stock exchanges as well as the Exchange Supervisory Authority (Börsenaufsichtsbehörde) of the results of its investigations. It also forwards cases to the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin), in case these fall within its area of responsibility.


As far as general questions about trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and Eurex Deutschland are concerned, the staff of the Investor Center will be available by email at anlegercenter@deutsche-boerse.com or you may call +49 69 21118310. 


We kindly request you to direct any questions regarding specific orders or transactions to your order-executing bank as the direct exchange participant which might involve the respective exchange or the TSO for their response.


You may also inform the TSO on potential violations of the rules (in particular market abuse and insider trading) by email to huest@deutsche-boerse.com (for the Frankfurt Stock Exchange) or to surveillance@eurexchange.com (for Eurex Deutschland). In this context, please be advised that the TSO is obliged to maintain confidentiality in accordance with the Exchange Act and the Market Abuse Regulation and is not permitted to inform the whistleblower on the results of their investigation.


Exchange Surpervisory Authority (Börsenaufsichtsbehörde) initiates sanctions

The Exchange Supervisory Authorities are responsible at the state level. The Exchange Supervisory Authority of the state Hesse is incorporated in the Hessian Ministry of Economics, Energy, Transport and Housing. Inter alia, the area of competencies of this authority comprise pricing processes, the supervision of the proper conduct of trading as well as the investigation of violations of the Exchange Act. The authority assesses the irregularities reported by the TSO and may however also directly supervise the markets. Besides the Disciplinary Committee and the management boards of the exchanges, the Exchange Supervisory Authority may also impose sanctions on market participants. Over and above this, the authority approves the rules and regulations of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange as well as Eurex.


BaFin takes disciplinary action against market abuse

The Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (henceforth referred to as ‘BaFin’) is responsible for the investigation in cases of suspected insider trading and market manipulation at the federal level. Moreover, BaFin investigates potential violations of publication requirements.


History of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange

Fairs, coins and bills of exchange: 11th - 17th century

The roots of FWB® Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse (Frankfurt Stock Exchange) go back to the period of medieval fairs. The Frankfurt autumn fair is mentioned in writing for the first time during the Assumption holiday in the year 1150. The autumn fair is believed to have had its origin in the 11th century as a harvest fair. Since the year 1330, when Emperor Ludwig the Bavarian expanded this privilege to include a spring fair as well, the city became an important centre for commercial and monetary transactions. As a result of the trading activity during the fair, the manufacture of goods on order gradually developed into merchandise production for an open and nationwide market.

Already at the beginning of the sixteenth century, due to its well-known fairs Frankfurt had become so prosperous that Luther termed the city 'the silver and gold hole' of the German Empire. Through the immigration to Frankfurt of Dutch and French merchants who had been persecuted because of their Protestant belief, during the sixteenth century wholesale commerce and the banking sector also became established in Frankfurt. Merchants from all over Europe came to Frankfurt in order to engage in trade.

Since there was still no single currency neither in Europe nor in the German Empire, and the various countries fell apart into numerous small economic regions with their own monetary systems, payment was based on a large variety of coins. Because of this, monetary transactions in Frankfurt proved to be extremely troublesome. The confusing abundance of means of payment and the free exchange rates made it easy to engage in usury and swindles. To counter the deterioration of coinage, merchants at the fair met in 1585 in order to establish uniform exchange rates. Today, this event is regarded as the moment of the Frankfurt exchange's birth.

From that day on, during the fair a group of merchants met periodically to update the uniform and binding exchange rates for transactions in notes and coins. In German, the name Burs or Börse (the equivalent of the French bourse) was documented in writing as a designation for this meeting as early as in 1605.

The German term Börse (and French bourse) comes from the fifteenth century, from the Belgian city of Bruges. The word described a periodic meeting of rich Italian traders at ter buerse plaza – a market place that was named after the patrician family Van der Beurse, who had lived there (Lat. bursa = 'bag' or 'change purse').

The first official quotations sheet which presented the average prices for twelve denominations of currencies for the payment week following the fair, appeared in 1625. The oldest quotations sheet from the Frankfurt exchange that still exists dates from the year 1721. The list already contained exchange rates for 16 coinage types. Initially, the meetings continued to be held on the open field in front of the Frankfurt town hall. It was only in 1694 that the traders moved to the Großer Braunfels building at the Liebfrauenberg, thereby selecting the city's most important and spacious building as their fixed meeting place.

In 1666, the first Exchange Rules and Regulations („Ordnung in Wechsel- und Kauffmannsgeschäfften“) were enacted, which led to the establishment of an official stock exchange administration. Initially, only trading in bills of exchange was undertaken on the Frankfurt exchange.

Patricians, princes and commodity markets: 18th - 19th century

Periodic trading in promissory notes and bonds was initiated at the end of the seventeenth century. A market was thus born in which non-merchants could invest their assets as well. In 1707, the directors of the Frankfurt exchange met to form the merchants’ official representatives (Deputierten der Kaufmannschaft), an official trading representation body for the city.

In 1808, the Chamber of Commerce was formed out of these Deputies. The stock exchange, which had been established 223 years previously as a private institution operated by a number of merchants, was brought under the umbrella of the Chamber of Commerce. It thus became a public-sector institution.

Trading in government bonds began on the Frankfurt exchange at the end of the eighteenth century. In 1779, Bankhaus Bethmann placed the first bond denominated in the millions for the German Emperor in Vienna. To be in a position to arrange this huge sum, for the first time this bank issued so-called fractional bonds (Partialobligationen) in Frankfurt. Anyone with funds could buy these securities at the bank. The investor thereby actually acquired part of the overall bond issue as well as the right to a share in the regular interest earnings. This instrument of capital mediation that was introduced by Bankhaus Bethmann made it possible for the Frankfurt banks to arrange large bond issues in the future.

With the advancement of Bankhaus Rothschild in Frankfurt to the leading capital intermediary among the European dynasties, the city developed into a centre for international capital with one of the major international stock markets besides London and Paris. The restricted space at the location in Haus Braunfels became less and less appropriate in view of the importance of the stock exchange. For this reason, in the mid-nineteenth century it built its own prestigious building located near the Paulskirche on the Paulsplatz. The building was based on the plans of the Frankfurt architect Friedrich Peiper and opened its doors in 1843.

The industrial revolution in Germany made the advantage of financing costly projects through share issues obvious.

The first common share – a participating certificate of the Austrian National Bank (Oesterreichische Nationalbank) – had been traded in Frankfurt back in 1820. The main focus of trading on the Frankfurt exchange, however, was still on bonds. In contrast to the other large European stock exchanges, the Frankfurt market was initially cool to the ever more popular shares in numerous stock corporations. Until 1850, the Frankfurt stock exchange primarily developed into a centre for trading in secure government bonds and funds. This specialisation lent Frankfurt the reputation of 'solid Frankfurt'. Frankfurt became the 'gateway for capital exports' because based in this market, foreign bonds were additionally also placed on the other European stock exchanges.

The new exchange building was opened in 1879. In their plans for the building, the well-known Frankfurt architects Heinrich Burnitz and Oskar Sommer succeeded in creating an extremely harmonious combination of functionality and prestige. In addition to the main railway station and the Old Opera, the New Stock Exchange is still one of the most important Frankfurt structures dating from the Wilhelmian era.

Following the 'Gründerjahre' boom period innumerable companies were restructured as stock corporations (between 1870-74 a total of 857 stock corporations were founded in Prussia alone). Frankfurt nevertheless remained restrained vis-à-vis these securities. Frankfurt's attention continued to be directed towards US bonds and international government securities.

Thanks to the city's good international contacts, during the years after 1871, when Berlin was the capital of the newly founded German Empire and became host to the country's most important stock exchange, Frankfurt was nevertheless able to assert its international position and its role as a central stock exchange. At the end of the 19th century, the absolute necessity of adapting to the general economic situation in the country was recognised in Frankfurt. In order not to endanger its prestige as an economic capital, and contrary to former endeavors, Frankfurt altered its economic policy and strove to attract industry and intensified share trading activities. This development in the direction of a true stock exchange met the challenge of the Berlin Stock Exchange's dominance. The Frankfurt exchange could now offer companies, primarily located in southern Germany, an alternative to Berlin for the raising of capital. The 29 German stock exchanges were only subject to a uniform organisation under the Stock Exchange Act of 1896. In addition, the previous local provisions applicable in Frankfurt gave way to a nationwide arrangement that has remained largely in effect down to this day.

Wars, reconstruction, the computer age and cross-border growth: 20th century

The internationally oriented FWB® Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse (the Frankfurt Stock Exchange) was very hard hit by World War I and its consequences. Foreign shares and bonds were sold by German investors out of fear of instrumentalisation by the warring states; freed up capital was invested mostly in government bonds. By the end of the war, all foreign securities had disappeared from German exchange lists, as a result of which Frankfurt lost its standing as an international stock exchange. By the end of the war, the international contacts of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange had been lost. Inflation set in and reached its first peak in 1923. The stock exchange saw unprecedented losses in securities of monetary value. By contrast, demand for stocks as speculation objects sharply increased. In October 1929, however, stock exchange prices fell dramatically and 25 October 1929 made history as “Black Friday”. The world economic crisis ruled the following years. The economy only began to restabilise in 1932.

With the Nazi takeover in 1933, overall economic policy was incorporated into the general government and war policy. Stock exchange supervision was taken away from the states and made the domain of the central government, with the number of stock exchanges reduced from 21 to 9. The Frankfurt stock exchange incorporated the Mannheim stock exchange in 1935. The merged institution was called the Rhine-Main Stock Exchange. Although the Frankfurt Stock Exchange continued to function as a 'domestic stock exchange', it had, in reality, no major function. Nazi economic controls constricted the development of the free market and stock market trading. By and large, potential capital assets were only supposed to benefit the war economy and could no longer be invested in larger bonds or shares. The Frankfurt Stock Exchange building was badly damaged during an allied air raid in 1944. Stock exchange meetings could therefore only be held in the cellar rooms of the building.

Following the collapse of the Nazi regime in 1945, the exchange initially remained closed for six months. It was reopened in September 1945 under the protectorate of the US military government as one of the first German stock exchanges.

It was only following the currency reform of 1948 and the growing consolidation of the German economy that the Frankfurt Stock Exchange gradually recovered its old significance. In 1949 the Frankfurt stock exchange official trading starts up again. In the same year, the securities and clearing deposit bank Frankfurter Kassenverein is founded as a stock corporation, whose most significant task is the necessary settlement and clearance of securities after the war.

In 1953 four currency exchanges are opened, for the US Dollar, Canadian dollar, Swiss franc and currencies of the European Payments Union. Beginning in 1956, the purchase of foreign securities was again permitted in Germany. Frankfurt was thus able to return to its tradition of international business and resume its leading position in Germany. The stock exchanges played an important role as capital intermediaries for the country's post-war reconstruction. Through their activity, they were also decisively involved in the subsequent 'economic miracle' in the 1950s and 1960s and in the Federal Republic of Germany's achievement in becoming a major economic force in the world.

The Main Trading Hall of the exchange building at Rahmhof (today’s Börsenplatz) in the centre of Frankfurt is reopened after rebuilding in 1957.

In 1969 the digital age arrives at the Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse. Traders can now process securities transactions electronically by BÖGA, a computer system to process stock exchange transactions One year after, in the next step exchange member firms are now able to interact with the exchange computer via telex.

Börsen-Daten-Zentrale GmbH (BDZ) is founded in 1970. As the data centre of the Frankfurt stock exchange, BDZ is one of the precursors of Deutsche Börse Systems AG. In the same year Deutscher Auslandskassenverein AG (AKV), one of the precursors of today’s Clearstream International S.A., is founded by the regional securities clearing and deposit banks.