Commerzbank Teams With FTSE To Create New Retail Bond Certificate

Commerzbank, one of the largest German banks, announces a new investment certificate, the Commerzbank Europe ZinsPlus. The certificate is based on the FTSE Euro Corporate Bond Index, and gives retail as well as institutional investors in Germany, the opportunity to invest in investment grade rated Euro denominated bonds, with the backing of two highly respected financial services institutions.

The Europe ZinsPlus certificate will start trading on May 30th 2003 and allows Commerzbank clients to invest in more than 270 of the most liquid corporate bonds in Europe through a single product. The FTSE Euro Corporate Bond index contains securities rated from AAA to BBB-, including BMW, Bayer, Deutsche Telekom and General Electric. It is created using more than 200 price sources and represents a broad and impartial view of the European bond market. Performance of the index has increased by 5.84% p.a. since 1999.

Commenting on the new index-linked certificate, Serdar Serin of Commerzbank said: "Investors today want to have complete confidence in financial products. By using the FTSE European Corporate Bond Index, Commerzbank customers can be assured that the product has the integrity of an independent benchmark, as well as the security offered by one of Germany's leading banks."

Daniel Winkler of FTSE Group added:"Commerzbank clients will benefit from FTSE's innovative stock selection, which ensures only those companies which are actively bought and sold are included. Additionally, the unique design and extensive price sourcing behind the FTSE Euro Corporate Bond Index guarantees an unbiased and high quality single price for each bond. Issuers and investors can be confident that this index gives a true reflection of the bond market."

For more information about the Commerzbank Europe ZinsPlus certificate - please go to www.zertifikate@commerzbank.com. For more information about the FTSE Global Bond Index series, please go to www.ftse.com/bonds.jsp