Understanding the London Stock Exchange (LSE)
London has long been one of the world's leading financial cities, well-known as a hub for international trade, banking, and insurance. The history of the London Stock Exchange (LSE) goes back to 1698 when broker John Castaing began posting the prices of stocks and commodities at Jonathan's Coffee House, which was a popular meeting place for businessmen to conduct trades. Castaing called his price list "The Course of the Exchange and Other Things."
Through its primary markets, the London Stock Exchange (LSE) provides cost-efficient access to some of the world’s deepest and most liquid pools of capital. It is home to a wide range of companies and provides electronic equities tradingfor listed companies.
The LSE is the most international of all stock exchanges with thousands of companies from more than 60 countries, and it is the premier source of equity-market liquidity, benchmark prices, and market data in Europe. Linked by partnerships to international exchanges in Asia and Africa, the LSE intends to remove cost and regulatory barriers from capital markets worldwide.