Their exchanges managed to be outwardly bland and throwaway while crackling with hostility and tension.
Italian news agencies ANSA and APcom reported that the proposal values the Italian exchange at $2.15 billion and would involve creating a holding company that would control both exchanges, managed by 12 advisers, seven British and five Italian.
In recent years, China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange, which manages foreign exchange reserves, agreed to invest $500 million in a $13 billion real estate fund overseen by the Blackstone Group, a Wall Street investment firm.
In one memorable exchange, he managed to refer to hors d'oeuvres as 'a whore's duvet'.
Only the Polish exchange, WSE, managed to partly buck the gloom, hosting 18 flotations compared with 12 a year earlier.
The French wanted a softer currency with an exchange rate managed by finance ministers to keep French planes and grain competitive on world markets.
So far, no exchange has managed to capture a big chunk of the corporate-debt market, which is still dominated by dealers.While all this is going on, an important regulation, known as Reg NMS, is looming.
Under the guidance of its interim chairman, John S. Reed, the exchange has managed in just over three months to move constructively beyond the turmoil that enveloped it over the huge compensation package of its former chairman, Richard A. Grasso.
