Eurex To Extend Trading Hours To 3 p.m. Chicago time (10 p.m. CET)- Ferscha: “We Are Optimizing Distribution In The U.S. Market” - Approval By Exchange Council For Extended Trading Hours From November 21, 2005

As of November 21, the derivatives exchange Eurex will be extending the trading day for its benchmark products to 3.00 p.m. Chicago time (10.00 p.m. CET). The new trading hours will apply for Euro fixed income products as well as equity index futures, including the globally traded benchmark products Euro-Bund, Euro-Bobl and Euro-Schatz, as well as futures on the DAX and Dow Jones Euro STOXX indices. Until now, fixed-income products have been traded until 7.00 p.m. CET and index futures until 8.00 p.m. CET. Trading hours for equity options and equity index options will remain unchanged.

The extended trading day will enable Eurex to offer its clients new trading opportunities, cover more of the U.S. trading day and increase distribution in this key market. Customers based in Chicago can then trade Eurex products until 3 p.m., instead of 12 midday for fixed-income products and 1 p.m. for index products currently.

Eurex CEO Rudolf Ferscha said: “With our extended trading hours we are meeting customer demand for longer trading hours of Eurex benchmark products into the U.S. trading afternoon.”

The market share of U.S. based Eurex market participants trading the Euro-STOXX 50 future and DAX future has risen from 5 percent in 2000 to up to 30 percent in 2005.