Last month Structured Products magazine revealed in its article ‘Say hello to Alex’ that the Swiss Exchange and Deutsche Börse would be aggregating their structured products trading in a joint exchange dubbed Alex. Sadly – for now at least – nobody will be greeting Alex, as the new bourse is currently in a trademark dispute over the use of the name.
The exchange will now initially be called Börse Frankfurt Smart Trading in the German market and SWX Quotematch in Switzerland. The lengthy names, which are temporary, hardly trickle off the tongue. By operating under different names in different markets it will be difficult for the partnership to achieve its goal of becoming a true pan-European venture as initially planned.
In December, the exchange’s chief executive, Marc Zahn, told Structured Products that Alex will "generate significantly higher Europe-wide growth potential for this segment than would have been possible alone." However, for now, the Swiss Exchange and Deutsche Börse are indeed going alone – in name at least – effectively putting European wide plans on the backburner while the legal wrangling is sorted out.
No doubt the joint venture will be looking for a speedy resolution to the costly dispute through a joint new name or a return to Alex.
In better news for the exchange, structured products trading did begin as planned when markets opened for the New Year and the trading is aggregated in all bar name.
Daniel Sheehan, staff writer, Structured Products
Comments (1)
Perhaps other exchanges will bring their structured products segments together. Just imagine if the American Stock Exchange and New York Stock Exchange decided to do so! It would be a huge boost to US market liquidity...
Posted by Annon | January 16, 2007 2:34 PM
Posted on January 16, 2007 14:34