Thomson Corporation and Reuters have back-tracked on plans to use the Reuters brand for all their merged market data operations, and will instead call the new financial division Thomson Reuters Markets once the £8.1bn deal is completed.

The decision was described by some insiders as a sign of the influence of Woodbridge, the Thomson family investment group, over the merged group. Woodbridge will end up with 53 per cent of the company once regulators give their approval to the deal.