It wasn’t supposed to be like this. In what should be the exchange-traded derivatives market’s defining year, with pro-competition legislation threatening to open up electronic access to legacy voice markets, harsh new economic realities mean power is instead being concentrated in the hands of the few.

David Escoffier, global co-head of equity flow at Societe Generale, said: "It's not easy to be an equity derivatives flow player in 2011 if you don't have true global scale. Slowly but surely this year, we've seen a reduced field of competitors. Other houses are pulling back from the market."