They don't want to see their London strongholds weakened. Merrill Lynch finds itself in a quandary. But its stock traders, their counterparts at other banks say, are bitterly opposed. The iX affair has intensified resentment of Morgan Stanley and Goldman, which have come to dominate many areas of European investment banking in recent years. Also worried about the deal are smaller London brokers.
Costs are their main concerns.
The new exchange plans to adopt Frankfurt's Xtra trading system. Growing discontent means greater uncertainty for the future of Europe's stock exchanges. Even the biggest players in European trading don't seem to have a clear view of the horizon. For instance, while backing the London-Frankfurt merger, the likes of Morgan Stanley and Deutsche are also putting money into alternative electronic exchanges that just might catch fire if the traditional exchanges never manage to get their act together. One of these alternative exchanges is called Tradepoint.