The U.K.’s Financial Services Authority suggests that if a U.S. stock exchange – at this point, Nasdaq seems the likely candidate – takes over the London Stock Exchange, in all likelihood the new entity would not be subject to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission regulations. “Neither the FSA nor the SEC consider that U.S. ownership of the LSE, in and of itself, would result in U.S. regulations, including Sarbanes-Oxley,” FSA Chairman Callum McCarthy said in a statement intended to ease concerns of U.K. firms about a merged exchange. Companies are increasingly avoiding U.S. exchanges because of the tighter regulations. McCarthy did say, however, that the combined entity may require “creation of a single market, covering all the securities of both exchanges with access by common members serving investors in both jurisdictions."