Regulation of Stock Exchanges in the Recent Wake of Mergers

European stock exchanges are turning into public listed organisations, after demutualisation, and aim at maximising profits for their stockholders. Stock exchanges are moving from an era of monopolies to a new era marked by competition. A study shows that 60 new financial stock exchanges were created between 1990 and 1999.1 The likely contributing factors include: economic freedom in taxes; a sound regulatory structure enhancing the de-regulatory trend; an increasing number of main players, ie investment banks channelling investors’ towards stock exchanges; and the existence of larger economies