After months of excitement, not much has changed in the exchange-consolidation merry-go-round. The SGX/ASX deal got scuttled thanks to Australian political forces playing the “national interest” card. The same could be said for the recently abandoned LSE/TMX deal, though that battle included an interesting twist, with large Canadian banks getting together to counter the British invasion with the creation of the Maple Group. The NASDAQ/ICE bid for NYSE Euronext looked to be the most interesting until it went out with a whimper thanks to strong antitrust concerns by regulators. While it is true that the combined entity would have had … Continue Reading →

After a couple of years of slowdown, the exchange consolidation game is in full swing worldwide, with multiple potential mergers on the table. Political pressure is mounting in all of these deals, as cross-border consolidation among exchanges always seems to trigger some sort of patriotic outcry from politicians, market practitioners, and, at times, regulators. We are seeing variations of this political backlash across the three financial markets, involving SGX/ASX in Asia, TMX/LSE in Canada/Europe, and NYSE Euronext/Deutsche Boerse/NASDAQ/ICE in U.S. and European markets. While one could go on and on about the importance of having a strong national exchange in … Continue Reading →

With today’s official announcement of the Deutsche Boerse acquisition of NYSE Euronext, what was unthinkable even a decade ago may become a reality. While regulatory approval for such a behemoth of a deal is far from guaranteed, the combined entity would certainly put a lot of pressure on other major exchanges with any level of global aspiration. How did we get here, and what is next to come? One could point to the demutualization of exchanges as the initial trigger for consolidation. As exchanges transformed themselves into for-profit public companies, the pressure for ever-higher revenues continued to build up. In … Continue Reading →