Competing arguments

It is right that the UK Competition Commission should take a hard look at the possible takeover of the London Stock Exchange by either Euronext or Deutsche Boerse. When stock exchanges were owned by their users, they had a natural desire to keep trading costs down. But that’s no longer true. They are now profit-maximising corporations. And that means mergers are a threat to customer interests. As things stand, competition between the three main exchanges is potential rather than actual. Liquidit...