As alternative trading venues raise the pressure on established exchanges, including the London Stock Exchange, the incumbents are looking to diversify into areas where competition is not so fierce. One of these is derivatives, where margins are good and rivals are few.

Deutsche Börse has moved most resolutely in this direction. The German exchange merged its derivatives operations with those of Switzerland's stock exchange in 1998 to create Eurex, before expanding across the Atlantic with the $2.8bn (€1.9bn) purchase of US options market the International Securities Exchange.