Resignation of CE of London Stock Exchange

[Chris Burford <cburford@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Dwarfed in importance by the paralysis of the whole British economy, this
week has also seen, almost in passing, the collapse of the planned merger
between the London and Frankfurt Stock Exchanges. A tricky alliance to
bring off, it was torpedoed by a hostile bid from Sweden, a country of 8
million people.

The merger with Frankfurt has been called off allegedly to enable the
London Exchange better to resist this hostile bid, but it seems likely that
there may be another hostile bid soon, from Euronext allying the Paris,
Brussels and Amsterdam exchanges.

This week the chairman and chief executive of the London SE had to go
through the indignity of a secret ballot.

In times past, the idea that the London Stock Exchange could be left to
flutter in the wind of international competition to be picked up by
scavengers, would have flown in the face of national-based imperialist
self-respect.

Now capital is so internationalised that the London Exchange just competes
like other companies for business. Worse, according the the FT "the job has
gained a reputation for being the most difficult in the City".


The beleaguered chairman Don Cruickshank could only claim his former chief
executive had
helped transform the LSE into the strong,  internationally-renowned,
commercial entity which
reported pre-tax profits of more than £48 million for the year to March 31,
2000.

But ultimately capital is faceless.

Chris Burford

London