| Sumario: | LIFFE, London's futures exchange, has proposed to allow brokers around the world to buy and sell its contracts on computer screens as well as in its trading pits, and this may be the only way for the members of LIFFE to salvage their business. The introduction of Europe's single currency, the euro, in January 1999 has forced LIFFE to take action: Once deutsche marks, francs, and pesetas are replaced by the euro, futures contracts based on national interest rates will disappear and markets for interest-rate futures may shrink to only short-term and long-term euro futures. In addition, LIFFE is facing growing competition from Germany's DTB exchange, which wants to dominate euro futures trading and offers an electronic trading-system with some telling advantages. Nevertheless, LIFFE's belated acknowledgment of screen-based trading may allow it to recapture some market share.
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