Under the counter

If you can't join 'em, join 'emOne way or another, we are on the verge of a big shakeup on the US exchange scene (I say that as if it were a cast iron certainty, even though I know at least one gnarled industry veteran who routinely predicts the collapse of any proposed exchange merger deal - which reminds me, I must collect that tenner he owes me after Euronext/NYSE didn't fall to bits). And whichever way the situation does pan out, it seems that the dashing youngsters at ICE will not be throwing in the towel. In a recent interview, the exchange's head honcho Jeff Sprecher said that even if his boys don't snaffle CBoT from under the Merc's sticky fingers they still intend to get into the interest rate futures business....