Clara Furse is the Chief Executive of the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and a veteran in the world of finance.

The 50-year-old investment banker started her career in the City of London almost two decades ago. She has spent most of that time working in the cutting edge world of financial derivatives, such as futures and options, and gaining a range of top jobs along the way.

Jobs included, Group Chief Executive of Credit Lyonnais Rouse from 1998 to 2000; Director of LIFFE from 1991 to 1999, and Deputy Chairman from 1997 to 1999.

She was at Phillips & Drew (now UBS) from 1983 to 1998 and became a Director in 1988, Executive Director in 1992, Managing Director in 1995, Global Head of Futures in 1996. She is a Non-Executive Director of Euroclear plc, LCH.Clearnet and RICS Foundation.

She was appointed Chief Executive of the LSE in January 2001.

Clara Furse, Chief Executuve of the London Stock Exchange, is under fire for a neat shimmy that will save her around £400,000 ($800,000) in tax.

The move transferred £5.1m ($10m) of shares in the LSE to her husband on the eve of the government’s changes to capital gains tax. It means she will pay only 10pc in CGT, instead of the new rate of 18pc which comes into force next Monday. This translates to a possible saving of £408,000 and an exposure to the new rate only on increases in the value of the shares.

Lib-Dem Treasury spokesman and political flavour of the month, Vince Cable, called it a “clever dodge”.

As the man said though, “No-one is under any obligation to help the authorities increase their take from one’s personal income”.

The London Stock Exchange, which has seen almost a half of its shares snapped up by two rival Arab Royal families, has announced that the summer’s volatility in share trading during the credit crunch in financial markets has boosted growth in the booming exchange’s business.

Chief executive Clara Furse said the merger with Borsa Italiana should be completed by October 1st. “The exchange is very close to completing the merger with Borsa Italiana, having secured overwhelming support from both sets of shareholders. We are focused on implementing our merger plans which will lead to accelerated growth for the enlarged group.

“The Exchange continues to make excellent progress and has delivered a very strong trading performance for the year to date. In particular, the Sets electronic order book achieved enormous volume growth over the summer, as increased market volatility during the period added to strong growth already being facilitated by the new TradElect platform, in conjunction with customer and other exchange initiatives.”

In the past five months alone, the number of deals done on the Sets electronic trading system has grown by 75 percent over the same period a year ago, to around 551,000 a day. This smashes the 480,000 target set for the full year ending next March.

Nasdaq’s Robert Greifeld has put the American company’s substantial stake in the London Stock Exchange up for sale.

The move is thought to signal the end of the aggressive CEO’s ambitions to take over the LSE, while giving him extra leverage in his bid for the Scandinavian exchange group, OMX.

The sale would open the way for a higher offer on OMX, after the Dubai Financial Centre topped Nasdaq’s agreed bid last week.

Speculation is rife that a deal between Nasdaq and Dubai may be in the offing, which would leave the ambitious Gulf State with a major holding in the LSE and Greifeld with a clear run at OMX.

That would be yet another blistering headache for Clara Furse and her team in the City.