German company could buy New York Stock Exchange
TEXT OF INTERVIEW
JEREMY HOBSON: Good morning. From American Public Media I’m Jeremy Hobson in New York, which is currently the home base of the New York Stock Exchange. But maybe not for long. Investors are digesting news this morning that the Frankfurt trading floor could buy the NYSE and base the new company in Europe. This comes just a day after the London Stock Exchange announced a merger with the owner of the Toronto Stock Exchange.
For more on what it all means, let’s bring in Marketplace’s David Gura. Good Morning, David.
DAVID GURA: Good morning Jeremy.
HOBSON: So why are we seeing so many of these stock exchanger mergers right now?
GURA: Many of the older exchanges, including The New York Stock Exchange are still iconic. But they’re worried about losing relevance. They’re afraid they could lose business as better technology means trading can happen and does happen off the trading floor online. As odds are there’s a market open somewhere every hour of the day. I talked to David Buik a few minutes ago. He’s a trader with BGC, in London.
DAVID BULK: This is the way forward, and if you’re going to take on all the BRIC countries, the Far East, and have a truly global stock exchange, you have to be very cost conscious and very commission conscious.
It’s all about international competition. If this deal goes through, it would be the biggest market in the world.
HOBSON: David, if we’re going global then with all these stock exchanges, what’s going to happen to longstanding financial capitals, like the one I’m in right now, New York?
GURA: David Buik told me New York isn’t going to lose its supremacy. At least not yet. He said all we need to do is look at the recent history of the London Exchange which he says rebuffed offers to merge and rejected a chance to become a more important trading floor around the world. And he thinks London is probably the worse off for it.
HOBSON: Alright well David I’m sure this is all very interesting for big time investors, but who does this affect now that so many people are trading online anyway?
GURA: Obviously, one centralized exchange will be better for the big banks, but David Buik said for the rest of us, retail investors, as he put it, we’re probably going to get better access and we’ll probably pay fewer fees if the deal goes through and gets approval from European and American governments.
HOBSON: Marketplace’s David Gura in Washington, thanks.
GURA: Thanks Jeremy.
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