European Commission Blocks Merger of Deutsche Börse and NYSE Euronext
February 1, 2012
The European Commission has announced that it will block the planned merger of Deutsche Börse and NYSE Euronext due to the uncompetitive effect that this would have created in the area of European financial derivatives traded globally on exchanges.
Although the companies claimed that the merger would benefit consumers through creating greater liquidity and by minimising the amount of collateral required to be posted for security, the European Commission decided that competition generated liquidity gains, and that greater benefits to the consumer could be achieved without the merger.