ASX and SFE Merger Proposal unaffected by CLERP timetable

Australian Stock Exchange Limited's (ASX) proposal to merge with the Sydney Futures Exchange (SFE) is not in any way subject to the implementation of legislative reform under the Corporate Law Economic Reform Program 6 ("CLERP 6") or any other package of CLERP reforms. Regardless of CLERP 6, the ASX/SFE merger proposal would deliver short and medium term cost savings to market participants resulting from: a single derivatives platform; common clearing and systems processing (from mid 2000); cross margining between the two markets; clearing efficiencies and common market management; common regulatory and compliance regime. Once enacted, CLERP 6 will enable complete integration of the two markets including the establishment of a single derivatives clearing guarantee and a single market licensing regime. While these latter benefits do flow from the passage of CLERP 6, they are not fundamental to the ASX/SFE merger proposal. ASX's proposal envisages that the ASX and SFE markets would in any event be run concurrently before full integration in 2001/2.