| "Being the president of a stock exchange isn't the most secure of jobs," says Bengt Rydén with a chuckle. He should know. He has been in charge of the Swedish bourse for over 10 years, but has had to put his job on the line several times to force change on members. The Stockholm bourse has become surprisingly well known. It was the first in Europe to introduce remote access, which gives intermediaries without a local office the opportunity to trade on the Stockholm Stock Exchange via an electronic link. Other stock exchange chiefs who still have a few rounds to go in the fight over electronic trading, remote access, the local brokers' monopoly and other sensitive issues listen with respect as Rydén explains his three-stage strategy. First, in 1989 Stockholm abandoned floor trading and went electronic. Second, by 1993 it had become a private company which gives issuers and investors an equal say with the brokers. The third stage, which began in 1993, was to go international by introducing remote membership. Rydén persuaded the Swedish parliament to approve the scheme in 1992 so it was ready long before Sweden joined the EU at the beginning of 1995. |