BRUSSELS — In the U.S., the planned takeover of NYSE Euronext by Germany’s Deutsche Boerse made waves because it means ceding the storied trading floor at 11 Wall Street to foreign control.
But in Europe, tradition has almost no role in reviews of the deal. Regulators are focused instead on how to handle a new company that would be the world’s largest exchange and control vast but rather obscure parts of the financial system.
Big exchanges are no longer just the venues for trading stocks and bonds but have turned into one-stop conglomerates that clear and settle trades in derivatives, source and sell their own data and license the use of coveted indexes such as DAX or Stoxx.
Regulators are worried that they’ll create a financial behemoth just as they’re trying to increase oversight of the sector in the wake of the 2008 global crisis. The $10 billion takeover is set to affect big banks, investment funds and rival exchanges around the world. The first deadline for the European Commission’s review is Thursday, but a deeper examination of potential competition threats could drag on until the end of the year. The Associated Press
