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MARK AUSTIN THOMAS: The London Stock Exchange is reacting angrily to an attack by a senior American market regulator. Roel Campos of the SEC reportedly called one of the London markets a “casino.” From London, Stephen Beard has more.

STEPHEN BEARD: Roel Campos was quoted criticizing London’s Alternative Investment Market or AIM. This is a lightly-regulated market designed to raise money for smaller, more speculative ventures.

Campos was quoted saying 30 percent of the companies listed on AIM would be gone within a year. “That feels like a casino,” he said.

The London Stock Exchange has hit back. It said AIM’s failure rate is only 3 percent.

Fund manager Justin Urquart-Stewart puts Campos’ remarks down to jealousy because London has been booming at New York’s expense.

JUSTIN URQUART-STEWART: I think what is lying behind this is Mr. Campos, who did actually back off a little later back-pedaling like mad, is worried about the amount of new business that isn’t going to America, floatations not going to the New York Stock Exchange.

Many companies are deterred from listing in the U.S., he says, because of onerous regulation.

Since the beginning of last year the number of American companies listing in London on AIM has doubled to 60.

In London, this is Stephen Beard for Marketplace.