Paul Symons, head of public affairs at CREST, stressed that the company is "studiously platform neutral" and revealed that talks had taken place with OM Group earlier this week. CREST, along with its German peer Clearstream International, earlier unveiled a low-cost settlement solution for the iX International Exchanges, the new entity to be created in the merger of the London Stock Exchange and the Deutsche Boerse, which operates the German exchange.

"If the shareholders of the London Stock Exchange want a different deal, we are the UK's settlement agent, and will provide low-cost settlement arrangements with whoever," Symons said. However, he said he is confident that LSE shareholders would find the settlement arrangements outlined Thursday as satisfactory.

Earlier the two settlement groups detailed their response to the proposed merger of the LSE and the Deutsche Boerse to create iX. Customers will be able to continue to settle on their local systems but the settlement costs of cross-border trade will be reduced by lower tariffs. The reduction in the overall cost of cross-border settlement will increase volumes, but Symons did not say by how much.

Symons dismissed suggestions that Thursday's announcement was some sort of compromise and said a merger of CREST and Clearstream, 50 per cent owned by Deutsche Boerse, was not on the agenda. Clearing and settlement have been top of the list of concerns of LSE shareholders following the agreed merger of the LSE and Deutsche Boerse.

European exchanges to discuss defence
The heads of the Frankfurt, London, Milan and Madrid stock exchanges will meet on Friday to discuss possible moves, including a joint bid, to block the hostile bid for the London Stock Exchange by OM Group of Sweden, the Wall Street Journal Europe reported on Thursday.

The newspaper quoted people close to the exchanges. A spokesman for Deutsche Boerse, the company which operates the Frankfurt market, declined to comment on the report.

Deutsche Boerse had said Wednesday that it was standing by its merger plans with the London Stock Exchange and it might launch a counter-bid, possibly with European partners, to block the OM bid.