Financial exchanges: consolidation in the air
The rush to convergence of financial continues on.
- The managements of the New York Board of Trade (Nybot) and the Atlanta-based Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) have announced their plans for a $1 billion deal, and acquisition of Nybot by ICE. The combination of the two will rival the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Nybot deals in agricultural commodities, financial futures, and clearing house operations while ICE specializes in electric energy exchanges.
- Swedish-based OMX, which runs the stock exchanges for Scandinavian and Baltic countries, announced it will buy ICEX, Iceland's stock exchange, for $35 million. In addition, rumors that NASDAQ is interested in buying OMX are rife.
- There is a move to unite three major European exchanges, Euronext (Paris), Deutsche Boerse (Frankfurt), and Borsa Italia (Milan). The announcement is seen as an attempt to derail the planned New York Stock Exchange/Euronext merger.
- Meanwhile, NASDAQ's move to buy the London Stock Exchange is being fiercely resisted. But NASDAQ already owns 25% of the LSE. One big fear is whether European companies listed on the LSE would have to comply with the US's Sarbanes-Oxley accounting regulations.
6:19:25 PM 
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