The planned merger between the London and Frankfurt stock exchanges is "almost unworkable", according to a report by the investment bank Merrill Lynch, the Financial Times said Thursday.
The merger of the two bourses could not be carried out for "a substantial period of time," the report said, adding that that a fusion would lead to "exceptionally high" running costs.
The report risks putting Merrill Lynch, both a shareholder in the London Stock Exchange and a major economic player, in a tricky position. The US bank is in fact considered one of the key supporters of the iX merger project.
A Merrill Lynch official told the financial daily that the report was an internal document aimed at studying the practical and legal implications of the project.
He stressed that the findings did not necessarily constitute the opinion of the bank.— (AFP)
© Agence France Presse 2000
