Clearstream’s Core Business Continues Strong Growth In March 2007

Clearstream processed 2.66 million international transactions in March 2007, a 9 percent rise over March 2006 (2.44 million). Of these transactions, 73 percent were Over the Counter (OTC) transactions and 27 percent were registered as stock exchange transactions. Domestic settlement transactions in Germany stood at 4.28 million compared to 3.85 million for the same month last year, a rise of 11 percent. Of these transactions 69 percent were stock exchange transactions and 31 percent OTC transactions.

The value of assets under custody on behalf of customers rose to a new high of € 9.97 trillion, a 9 percent rise from March 2006 (€ 9.1 trillion). Securities held under custody in Clearstream’s international business experienced a rise of 11 percent from € 4.1 trillion to € 4.5 trillion. On the domestic German business, securities held under custody rose by 7 percent from € 5.1 trillion to € 5.4 trillion.

For the Global Securities Financing services monthly average outstandings reached € 312.7 billion. The combined services, which includes triparty repo, securities lending and collateral management, collectively experienced a rise of over 33 percent from the same month last year (March 2006: EUR 234.3 billion).

In the Investment Funds services, business continues to grow with 404.938 transactions processed in March, over 8 percent more than a year ago (336.811).