COMMENT Financial markets have long been global while their infrastructure has remained largely national. But recent exchange deals have catapulted trading, clearing and settlement infrastructure providers into a transatlantic, even global, marketplace. So the US Department of Justice decision to allow the merger between the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Chicago Board of Trade matters not just for Americans.
It is disappointing for market participants around the world who have been calling for lower costs in trading, clearing (the guaranteeing and netting of trades) and settlement (getting cash to the seller and securities to the buyer).
