Introduction

Derivatives exchanges are no strangers to change. In the past few years, the sector has undergone several bouts of consolidation, while established exchanges have seen their core markets threatened by the emergence of electronic exchanges and, in some cases, have ditched their member ownership structure in favour of public offerings.

But over the past year, the pace of change has really stepped up a gear: traditional, old school exchanges have been taken over by young electronic upstarts; bourses