Nicolas Bertrand, head of equity and derivatives markets at the LSE, countered barbed comments from Andreas Preuss, head of Eurex, the clearing house owned by Deutsche Börse, and deputy chief executive of Deutsche Börse. But given the number of proposed deals in market structures, it was perhaps inevitable that size would be the key issue.

Martin Abbott, chief executive of the London Metal Exchange, pointed out that his shareholders – also his users – felt no need to scale up as they were already dominant in the commodities markets they operated in. The view about competing in niches was shared by Mr Sprecher. He said his two failed hostile bids “were about trying to get into interest rate swaps, not trying to get global”.

He said ICE was still looking to get into other asset classes but his brush with the US regulatory authorities in the failed bid for NYSE Euronext had given him a perspective he hadn’t appreciated before.

“The regulator found that the competition is for the next listed product. Taking away from listed venues lessens that competition.”

He disclosed that one of the arguments Nasdaq OMX and ICE had used to US regulators was that markets were global and companies such as Facebook could raise capital outside listed venues.

True, but private equity companies or shareholders need an exit and a company valued at as much as $100bn can really only have one destination. The US regulator’s verdict felt like the cold shower from the morning after.

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