Being the chief executive of a stock exchange is not much fun right now. Exchanges’ share prices have been tumbling for the past year, with most markets having lost at least half of their market capitalisation. And fears are mounting over trading volume after orders dried up in the last two months of last year and show no signs of returning.

But Robert Greifeld, the chief executive of transatlantic exchange Nasdaq OMX, has had a better start to the year than most of his adversaries. John Thain, the former head of Nasdaq's arch-rival the New York Stock Exchange, became the face of profligate banking in late January after it emerged he spent $1.2m (€950,000) refurbishing his office at Merrill Lynch, the bank Thain had joined from NYSE in December 2007 and has since left.