The history of the world’s stock exchanges has played out like a big game of chess and at a painfully glacial pace. In a market gradually consolidating as securities trading becomes increasingly global, exchange executives have planned their mergers and partnerships several moves in advance, in perpetual fear that they might be outmanoeuvred by a competitor.
The London Stock Exchange Group is no different. During the latter stages of its near 450-year history, it has transformed itself from a London-centric company specialising in the listing, buying and selling of UK equities to a worldwide securities group with a presence in just about every area of the capital markets.
Founded as a market for trading stocks in 1571, the exchange in its modern form operates in