Risk 25 firms of the future: Exchanges

Volumes make or break exchanges, so the nervy, post-crisis environment is bad news for the sector – cash equity trading is depressed and volumes continue to slide, and many futures markets are struggling. This is one reason exchanges are looking – mostly without success – for merger partners.

Last year, the European Commission (EC) stopped a deal between NYSE Euronext and Deutsche Börse because it thought the merger would be anti-competitive, given the resulting entity would control more than 90