Euro.NM announced at the end of 1998 its intention to merge with the Stockholm bourse and the Copenhagen Exchanges, ending rumors of a merger between Euro.NM and Easdaq (Nat. Biotechnol. 16: 1301, 1998). However, according to Clive Pedder, director of marketing at Easdaq, the problems that faced the potential Easdaq–Euro.NM merger—namely a lack of clarity regarding how a combined exchange would operate—are also a concern for the proposed new merger. Pedder thinks the concept of a merger between exchanges is valid, but that such ties are worthless unless a single set of rules regulates all the exchanges and they are all linked electronically. Robert Thys, director of marketing at Euro.NM—itself a group of four associated exchanges from Germany, France, The Netherlands, and Belgium—says only that "each exchange will operate within its own framework." Until the hurdle of complete integration can be overcome, says Pedder, "investors will continue to see the [new merged] exchanges as separate local markets, rather than a single pan–European one."