Authors: James McAndrews and Chris Stefanadis

With the growing appeal of cross-border trading in Europe, efforts are under way to establish consolidated exchanges that offer trading in stocks from many European countries. An analysis of these evolving pan-European exchanges suggests that consolidation could reduce the costs and complications of cross-border trading through such enhancements as a standardization of trading platforms. Yet regulatory, legal, and economic barriers to the creation of these exchanges may delay any benefits of consolidation.