Market turmoil after the conflict involving Iran has pushed broker-mediated trades in the European repo market to 16.2% of outstanding repos as of June, the highest level since 2012, ICMA's semiannual survey of banks and institutions shows. That is about a 2.5 percentage-point increase versus the prior six months. Electronic trading's market share fell to 24.3%, a 16-year low. The shifts followed a government-bond sell-off and investor runs to liquidity, with participants moving toward more opaq

Market turmoil after the conflict involving Iran has pushed broker-mediated trades in the European repo market to 16.2% of outstanding repos as of June, the highest level since 2012, ICMA's semiannual survey of banks and institutions shows. That is about a 2.5 percentage-point increase versus the prior six months. Electronic trading's market share fell to 24.3%, a 16-year low. The shifts followed a government-bond sell-off and investor runs to liquidity, with participants moving toward more opaque financing channels. Manual brokers—matching trades by phone or instant messaging—have been increasingly relied on since 2022, especially when liquidity is thin or volatility rises.