Deutsche Börse: Five Market Makers Guarantee Liquid Trading In Dutch Equities - All Equities In AEX 25 Index Continuously Tradable On Xetra As Of November 17 - Low Clearing And Settlement Costs - Incentive System For Participants

Five market makers have already agreed to make trading in Dutch equities more attractive. Deutsche Börse made the announcement about five weeks prior to the launch of its new segment for Dutch equities. The securities trading firms International Marketmakers Combination, Optiver, Van der Moolen Amsterdam, Archelon Deutschland and Timber Hill have taken on a binding obligation as market makers to quote binding bid and ask prices in the trading of AEX25 blue chips on Xetra and thus provide for high liquidity. The companies quote the Dutch blue chips with at least 50,000 euros on both sides of the order book and a maximum spread of 1 percent. There are currently 20 Dutch banks trading on Xetra, making them the third-largest group of foreign participants on the electronic trading platform.

On November 17, in close cooperation with Dutch market participants, Deutsche Börse will be expanding its portfolio of products and services for trading in Dutch equities. The aim is to offer exchange-trading participants a tailor-made alternative for trading in Dutch equities on the pan-European trading system, Xetra.

Deutsche Börse is increasing the number of Dutch equities continuously tradable on Xetra from 8 to 25. This means that investors will be able to trade all of the equities in the AEX 25 index, and thus a whole non-German index for the first time, in continuous trading on Xetra. Moreover, the clearing and settlement fees for these Dutch equities are brought down to the same level as applies to German instruments that are not settled through the central counterparty (CCP). In order to facilitate easy access for new participants to the Xetra electronic trading system, Deutsche Börse will refund a large part of the fees and is supporting new customers with their technical connection to Xetra by bearing the costs for the technical connection to Xetra. Eurex, the world's leading derivatives market, has already been trading options on all of the equities in the AEX 25 index since June 2002 and has increased its market share in Dutch options to about 15 percent.