Nordic Stock Exchange Group
The Nordic Stock Exchange Group may not be the best known in the world but they are an important player on the world scene. The reason for this is that they actually own eight different stock exchanges, which combined makes them one of the biggest stock market companies in the world. They also have a lot more room for growth than other companies because of their technology division.
The Nordic Stock Exchange was formed when the Stockholm and Helsinki exchanges merged together. Over the years a number of other exchanges joined as well so that now all of the countries in Scandinavia and the Baltic are represented. In actuality the Nordic Stock Exchange is not one exchange but eight different ones that are all managed by the same company. This allows them to reduce their operating costs by sharing a lot of the resources that are necessary to run a stock exchange. This is especially useful in the case of the smaller exchanges.
None of the exchanges that are part of the Nordic Stock Exchange group are particularly large by world standards which makes it hard for them to compete on the world stage. For the most part they only list stocks that are traded in their own country. However as a combined entity they are a major player on to global scene. They are so large in fact that they once attempted to take over the London Stock exchange. The deal didn't go through but it is an indication of the power that the company as a whole has.
One of the reasons that the Nordic Stock Exchange group has been able to wield so much power is that they have been very successful at selling technology to other exchanges. They are world leaders when it comes to securities holding technology and clearing technology. This is something that all stock exchanges need to have and many of them are choosing to use that developed by the Nordic Stock Exchange. In fact they have been so successful in selling their technology that this is widely considered to be a bigger growth area than the actual trading of stocks.
Recently the Nordic Stock Exchange was bought out by the NASDAQ which has greatly increased their opportunities. They continue to operate as individual entities and this is not going to change. However the takeover represents a huge opportunity since it allows them to start selling their technology to the NASDAQ, the world's second largest exchange. In addition by sharing resources they will be able to offer a better level of service to their customers and at the same time reduce their costs. This bodes well for the future of the group as there is currently a trend towards merging stock exchanges, the fact that they were able to merge with one of the big players will really help them.