E-commerce - Redefining exchanges
NASDAQ let down by its own technology
NYSE members differ over demutualization
Try telling 150,00 people that many of them might soon be out of a job. That is the bottom line in Chicago, where the three derivatives exchanges - the Board of Trade, the Mercantile Exchange and the Board Options Exchange - are among the city's major employers. Roughly 50,000 are jobs directly linked to the exchanges, the other 100,000 indirectly.
The Chicago exchanges are a peculiar breed, especially the Merc and the CBOT, which have been around since the last century. By playing such a large role in the local economy and by being so much more isolated from the rest of the financial universe than the New York-based exchanges, it has been easy for them to allow themselves to get bogged down in their own little space. A senior executive from one of the banks in the Brokertec consortium has little time for Chicago any more. "Their views are extremely narrow up there. They can't see beyond the Chicago river."
That is beginning to change but it has taken some time. Down in New York, the Wall Street bankers have almost given up on the goings-on in the Windy City.