CorpComms Magazine

The merger between Deutsche Boerse and NYSE Euronext has left the two stock exchanges in a conundrum over what their new company's name should be.

Their approach to solving this dilemma is somewhat unorthodox. The decision is not to be made by the executives in charge of merging the two stock exchange giants. Instead, their employees have been given three weeks to be creative and come up with a new name.

As Duncan Niederauer, chief executive of NYSE Euronext, announced in a staff memo: 'We need your help to generate ideas for a new company name.'

He added: 'Thinking broadly about our new name... collaborating productively to find the right name... innovating to implement a viable crowd-sourcing initiative... engaging our most important resource, you... IT HAPPENS HERE.'

Employees at Deutsche Boerse have also been invited to put forward their suggestions, which are to be posted on a specially created company website.

A company website was created for the campaign, and this was the platform on which employees could post their suggestions over a three week period. There are no limits imposed on how many names each person could submit.

The Deutsche Boerse employees were also invited to put forward their suggestions in a similar manner.

But politicians in both exchange's home countries have publicly expressed their concerns.

Senator Charles Schumer, a Democratic member of the Senate Banking Committee, said that whether the New York Stock Exchange's name featured first or not in the new brand name was 'a critical factor' as to whether he backed the deal or not. Schumer was adamant that his rationale was purely for business reasons.

Germany's Economics Ministry, which is responsible for the Deutsche Boerse's operating licence, said that it would 'seek to preserve the interests of Frankfurt as financial centre'.

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