Sunday, May 27, 2007

I Thought All They Made Was Vodka And Ice


Nasdaq Buys Nordic Exchange Operator

The stock exchanges of the cold Scandinavian and Baltic economies are heating up, and doing so together.
Now Swedish-based OMX, with its branches in seven countries, will lend new heat to Wall Street's NASDAQ digital market. After rejecting a bid by NASDAQ last autumn, the two operators agreed Friday to a $3.7 billion bid to bring OMX under the control of NASDAQ.
Add this to the New York Stock Exchange purchase of the Euronext exchange this winter and several cooperation agreements stringing exchanges from Tel Aviv to Tokyo together, with goals of regulatory convergence and added value.
Look for the first benefits within the next year or two: an increase in global depositary receipts (GDRs, which act as markers for foreign listings on domestic exchanges), cross-listed exchange traded funds (ETFs), and greater attempts by national governments to establish symbiotic regulatory standards as the US rolls back some of the most draconian requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley regulation regime.

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