Clearstream Begins 2006 With Excellent Results

Clearstream began 2006 with excellent results in all of its main business areas. For January the number of monthly international transactions processed rose 41 percent at 2.12 million (January 2005: 1.5 million). Of these transactions, 72 percent were Over the Counter (OTC) transactions and 28 percent were registered as stock exchange transactions. Domestic settlement transactions in Germany increased 37 percent reaching 3.61 million compared to 2.65 million for the same period last year. Of these transaction 69 percent were stock exchange transactions and 31 percent OTC transactions.

The value of assets held under custody on behalf of customers rose to EUR 8.96 trillion, a 17 percent rise from January 2005 when it stood at EUR 7.7 trillion. Securities held under custody in Clearstream's international business experienced a rise of 18 percent from 3.38 trillion to 3.99 trillion. On the domestic German business, securities held under custody rose by 16 percent to 4.97 trillion (January 2005: 4.30 trillion).

The Global Securities Financing services business continued to register strong growth with monthly average outstandings reaching € 209.7 billion. The combined services, which include tripartite repo, collateral management and securities lending, collectively experienced a rise of 49.8 percent from the same month last year (January 2005: € 140.0 billion).

Clearstream Banking's investment funds services reached an all time high with 325,157 transactions processed, a 96 percent rise over January 2005 (165,795) and a 26 percent increase over last December (258,045). Also in January, Vestima+, Clearstream automated order routing system for investment funds celebrated its first anniversary.