Stefan Zapotocky wants to be a Metternich of the markets. The head of Austria's Wiener Börse sees himself as the great consolidator of Central Europe's stock exchanges. In May he led a consortium that took control of the Budapest Stock Exchange. By year-end, he vows, the Vienna bourse and the Budapest market, working in tandem with the Warsaw Stock Exchange, will unveil a blueprint for a pan­Central European bourse.

"All three exchanges are interested in a partnership of equals that can develop a common trading, clearing and settlement platform while keeping in place our local organizations," explains Zapotocky, 52, who spent most of his career overseeing trading and asset management at Bank Austria. Even combined, Central Europe's three biggest exchanges would have a modest market capitalization: E107 billion ($131 billion). Yet size isn't the main issue. As Zapotocky sees it, Central Europe's bourses must band together to escape the dominance of Europe's big three exchanges -- Deutsche Börse, Paris's Euronext and the London Stock Exchange.

Zapotocky is an apt figure to bring Central Europeans together. By heritage, he is part Czech and part Polish. "I hope I have the right ideas on the feelings of nations that have been split apart," he says.