John Thain, head of the New York Stock Exchange, delivered a kick to the aspirations of Australia-based Macquarie Bank, which has tendered a hostile bid for the London Stock Exchange.

Shortly after arriving at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Mr Thain mused out loud to a group of journalists that he did not understand the rationale behind Macquarie’s £1.5bn ($2.65bn) bid. Quite quickly, he proceeded to set out the NYSE’s own stall on the subject of cross-border mergers of stock exchanges.