Durkin's elevation to the top technology spot in the combined group cuts against the grain in a pre-merger management reshuffle which has seen the CME leadership team take the plum executive positions.

As previously announced, CME chief executive Craig Donohue will be CEO of the merged company, to be known as CME Group. CME executive chairman Terry Duffy will retain that role in the merged group, and CBOT chairman Charles Carey will serve as CME group vice chairman. Also as previously disclosed, CBOT CEO Bernard Dan will serve as a special adviser to the combined company for one year after the merger closes.

From the CBOT, only Bryan Durkin moves up the rungs, taking the title of CME Group chief operating officer, with responsibility for the combined company's technology and operations areas, over half of the company's employee base.

Durkin will report to Phupinder Gill, CME Group president, and will have ultimate responsibility for the transition of e-cbot products to CME Globex, and for the transition of CME trading floors to the CBOT trading facility, as well as for ongoing technology initiatives.

Durkin currently serves as EVP and COO of CBOT, where he is responsible for all of the exchange's trading operations, both on the trading floor and on the firm's e-cbot electronic trading platform. He was the driving force behind the implementation of the CBOT's clearing relationship with the CME in 1994.

The two companies believe they are on track to complete their merger transaction by mid-2007 and in recent weeks have achieved significant milestones, including filing a registration statement on form S-4 with the Securities and Exchange Commission and deciding on a high level organisational structure and senior leadership team for the combined company.

The exchanges are awaiting results of an antitrust review by the US Department of Justice to determine whether the merged group would create a monopoly.