Deutsche Börse chief executive Werner Seifert will go head-to-head with the London Stock Exchange by trading top UK stocks on its Xetra trading system if the controversial iX merger with the LSE is voted down in September.
Most of the big US and European investment houses already subscribe to Xetra. There are now 43 subscribers in London, more than double the number this time last year. At present, about one new system, which costs annually about �,000 for the high-volume package, is being bought every month in London. Seifert's alternative plan, should the merger collapse, would be for the Deutsche Börse to cherry-pick the top UK companies to list on its existing Euro Stoxx 50, its pan-European index.
