Dutch Equity Options At Eurex In Demand - Sixfold Increase In Contract Volume And Twice The Level Of Open Interest - Eurex Provides Strongest European Equity Option Segment

Eurex, the international derivatives market, has further expanded its position as the leading equity options exchange in the trading of European securities. Trading in Dutch equity options was especially active in July, with high growth rates. A total of about 600,000 contracts were traded in these options. Trading volume rose from some 4,000 contracts per day in June to more than 25,000 contracts in July, increasing more than sixfold on a daily average. At its peak, as many as 45,000 contracts were traded a day. This corresponds to a market share of as much as 16 percent on a daily basis. This trend is confirmed by the favorable trend in open interest, which continued to climb in July and now amounts to more than 500,000 contracts (as of 02 August 2002). Particularly in the Dutch blue chips in the Euro STOXX 50 such as ABN Amro, ING, Phillips and Royal Dutch, a liquid electronic market has developed at Eurex in the meantime.

Eurex is the only exchange to offer a minimum order size of just 250 contracts for block trades. Like the Eurex price model, the new block-trade facility has met with exceptionally high interest in the market, Eurex says. The derivatives market offers the most favorable terms for trading and clearing, it said, and rewards the most active participants with an attractive fee model.

Eurex has expanded the segment for Dutch equity options to include 14 new options since July 1. The world's leading options exchange now offers a total of 23 options on Dutch equities and is thus the only exchange to make all Dutch blue-chip options available electronically. Eurex has enhanced the attractiveness of its Dutch segment substantially and thus also the liquidity in these products: In addition to the active use of leading international market makers, who quote binding prices in the order book on a continuous basis, the maximum term for Dutch equity options was extended to 60 months.

The international equity options segment at Eurex is extremely successful overall: Some 86 million contracts have already been traded and cleared in 2002. This corresponds to an underlying value of 424 billion euros. The total comprises about 52 million contracts (290 billion euros) in German equity options, 20 million contracts (98 billion euros) in Swiss equity options and about 15 million contracts (35 billion euros) in all other European and U.S. equity options.

Further information from the Gruppe Deutsche Boerse is available under http://www.media-relations.deutsche-boerse.com.