‘Verging on impossible’ that AI will replace us, says stock exchange chief

TOM SAUNDERS

Thu, February 26, 2026 at 10:40 PM GMT+9 3 min read

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LSEG.L

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David Schwimmer said his company’s position at the centre of financial markets gave it a unique edge that AI couldn’t match - Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

The boss of the London Stock Exchange has dismissed the threat of AI, declaring it “verging on impossible” that the technology will replace his business.

David Schwimmer, the chief executive of London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), argued that his company’s position at the centre of financial markets gave it a unique edge that AI couldn’t match.

He said the technology could not replicate or rival the data LSEG generates, which cover stocks, bonds, commodities and other assets.

“I think we have made great progress in terms of providing clarity to our investors about how much of our data is proprietary, about how unlikely, verging on impossible it is that it could be replicated or replaced by AI,” he said.

While best known for running the London Stock Exchange, LSEG makes the majority of its money from its data business. Investors have worried that LSEG could be vulnerable to new, powerful AI models that could offer similar insights.

The company’s share price has fallen by more than a third in the last year amid broad-based fears about the growing power of AI tools.

“This is not just about LSEG,” Mr Schwimmer said. “This is about whole swaths of the market and whole sectors. There is a lot of uncertainty and a lot of lack of clarity amongst investors as to what this technology will do.”

Mr Schwimmer pointed out that the exchange operator had partnered with a number of providers, including OpenAI and Anthropic, and said it was seeing traction from these deals.

The company reported a 5pc growth in revenues for its data and analytics business last year to almost £4bn.

Revenue in its markets business increased by 8.9pc to £3.5bn, despite a dearth of listings in London.

LSEG also unveiled a record £3bn share buyback alongside its full-year results, to be completed by February next year, following pressure from activist investor Elliott Investment Management to pay out more to shareholders.

Elliott had reportedly been pushing for a buyback of £5bn.

Alongside the new share buyback, LSEG also increased its final dividend by 15.7pc to 103p a share. Its share price was up 6.3pc by mid-morning on Thursday in the wake of the announcement.

Wall Street raider Elliott is also said to have pressed LSEG to do more to explain how it could benefit from AI and to consider selling off some parts of its business, though the company is said to have ruled out spinning out the stock exchange itself.

Mr Schwimmer said LSEG did not have any plans to conduct disposals at the moment.

He added: “Over the past seven or eight years, we have had plenty of discussions with shareholders whom I would describe as active. This is a healthy part of the capital markets.”

Story Continues  

LSEG attracted the attention of Elliott after years of struggles for its stock exchange. In the first two weeks of 2026, more money was raised from listings in Hong Kong than was raised in London across the whole of 2025.

Hong Kong’s stock exchange operator reported on Thursday a 32pc rise in its core business revenues. Hong Kong was the second most active destination for IPOs last year, behind only the US.

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