UK regulator, the Office of Fair Trading, said today that the London Stock Exchange could become "a stronger competitor" under the ownership of Macquarie, the Australian bank which has made a £1.5bn (€2.2bn) hostile offer.

The detailed findings of its investigation into whether the offer posed competition issues, said: "Even if the merger were to increase the LSE's incentive to focus on core activities rather than to expand into related areas, this may result in the LSE becoming a stronger competitor to other trading exchanges."