The London Stock Exchange and Deutsche Börse always knew that merging would be hard work, but neither could have been prepared for the barrage of hostility which has emerged since iX was first announced at the beginning of May.

By bringing together the markets in London and Frankfurt, iX would create the dominant stock market in Europe, with over 3,300 companies worth a combined &euro4.5 trillion ($4.09 trillion). That is nearly twice the size of the Euronext market announced in March.