Mondo Visione Worldwide Financial Markets Intelligence

FTSE Mondo Visione Exchanges Index:

eSpeed To Offer World's Largest Combined Electronic Cash And Futures Market Through Agreement With Chicago Board Of Trade - New SuperQuads 5.0 To Allow For Seamless Trading Of Futures, Treasuries And Agencies On eSpeed Platform

Date 17/12/2002

eSpeed, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESPD), a subsidiary of Cantor Fitzgerald and the leading developer of electronic trading technology, today announced that it has entered into an agreement with the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), the world's oldest and third-largest derivatives marketplace, that significantly enhances trading opportunities over the eSpeed system. The agreement, which will distribute the CBOT's products through the eSpeed system, will provide customers with the ability to trade both cash and futures in one neutral, fully electronic, real-time marketplace.

CBOT's electronic futures markets will appear side-by-side with eSpeed's leading cash marketplaces for government securities and agencies, and will be available to eSpeed customers globally through eSpeed's new SuperQuad 5.0 technology release. Customers of both firms will now be able to access the world's leading cash and futures markets with the same speed, neutrality and efficiency that eSpeed customers have come to rely upon.

"eSpeed's tremendous distribution and liquidity across the global fixed income landscape combined with their superior technology and customer service make them an ideal partner for the CBOT," said Bernard Dan, President and CEO of the Chicago Board of Trade. "Their marketplace expertise and robust technology will allow the CBOT® to extend its market reach and add even greater liquidity to our own deep and liquid markets."

"This partnership with CBOT highlights the scalability of our robust technology and its continued ability to provide our customers with innovative ways to trade. The addition of the CBOT futures to our new SuperQuad 5.0 release meets our clients' growing demand to access and benefit from the largest and deepest electronic markets on a single execution platform," said Howard Lutnick, Chairman, CEO and President of eSpeed, Inc. "This relationship also further demonstrates eSpeed's commitment to deliver to our customers superior electronic trading across the broad range of capital markets."

SuperQuads 5.0 will enable traders to access the market's liquidity for benchmarks, off-the-runs, spreads and now futures, in addition to a broad range of other fixed income products, on a single screen. SuperQuads 5.0 is currently being distributed globally, with over 500 users already having upgraded to the new application.

About eSpeed Inc.

eSpeed Inc., a subsidiary of Cantor Fitzgerald, is the leader in developing and deploying business to business electronic marketplaces and related electronic trading technology that offers traders access to the most liquid, efficient and neutral marketplaces in the world. eSpeed operates multiple buyer/multiple seller real-time electronic marketplaces, including the world's largest government bond markets and other fixed income marketplaces. eSpeed's suite of marketplace tools provides end-to-end transaction solutions for the purchase and sale of financial and non-financial products over eSpeed's global private network or via the Internet. eSpeed's neutral platform, reliable network, straight-through processing and superior products make it the trusted source for electronic trading at more than 700 of the world's largest financial and energy institutions. To learn more, please visit www.espeed.com

About CBOT

Providing a diverse mix of financial, equity and commodity futures and options-on- futures products, the Chicago Board of Trade advances into the 21st Century on the strength of nearly 155 years of member-trader expertise, unparalleled liquidity, and market integrity. Via open auction and screen-based trading, the CBOT provides premier customer service to risk managers and investors worldwide. The CBOT was launched in 1848 originally by agricultural producers to achieve price protection. Today, CBOT members trade more than 60 different products, including futures and options-on-futures on U.S. Treasury bonds and notes, interest rate swaps, the DowSM Jones Industrial Average, including an electronic CBOT mini-sized DowSM, and other Dow Jones Indices. For more information about the CBOT's markets and products, log on to the exchange web site at www.cbot.com