After failing to take over the London Stock Exchange, German stock market operator Deutsche Boerse is seeking to strengthen ties with the Swiss Stock Exchange SWX in Zurich, the German company said.

"We're currently looking at ways of extending our already successful cooperation with SWX into other areas, such as the cash market," Deutsche Boerse's interim chief Mathias Hlubek said in an interview with the business daily Handelsblatt, published on Tuesday.

He said that the two stock exchange markets are in close contact. However, they are not considering a straightforward merger, he added.

The two exchanges already cooperate in futures trading. They are joint owners of Eurex, the world's leading futures exchange.

Deutsche Boerse hoped to take over SWX last year, but the plans were aborted because of resistance from Swiss banks.

Hlubek, Deutsche Boerse's chief financial officer, is currently acting as the German exchange's interim chairman after the departure of chief executive officer Werner Seifert in May.

Source: Xinhua