Having so long been the whipping-boy of its big cousin in London, the German futures exchange (Deutsche Terminbörse - DTB) can be forgiven for taking a full-page advertisement in the Financial Times in March to trumpet its victory.
After eight years of struggle the DTB had taken close to 70% of volume in the 10-year German Bund future, from the London International Financial Futures & Options Exchange (Liffe) which had dominated that contract since they both began competing in November 1990.
"Sorry Liffe, we did not want to become part of your problem, we prefer to be part of a solution," ran the advertisement with the heavy humour characteristic of Deutsche Börse executive board member Jörg Franke.
Since March the floodgates have opened and the DTB's share of the Bund contract has reached over 80%.
Even before this slap in the face, Liffe's strategy for next...
