Euronext Amsterdam Derivatives Market Speeds Up Move To Screen Trading - Royal Dutch And Unilever To Migrate At 19 August

After successfully migrating one third of its Amsterdam traded equity options from floor to screen, Euronext has decided to speed up the process in response to requests from market participants. Options on blue chip Royal Dutch will be migrated to screen trading as early as 19 August 2002, several months ahead of earlier plans. Options on blue chips such as Unilever, DSM, KLM and Reed Elsevier will move to screen trading on the same day. Euronext changed its deadline to complete the move from open outcry trading to a screen based trading system to the end of 2002, instead of the end of March 2003.

The process of moving Dutch options from floor to screen trading has been very successfull, leading to a significant increase in volumes. Volumes for Aegon and Fortis options have grown by 110% and 95% respectively (see attachment). Screen trading has also increased transparency for retail investors, who are very active on the Dutch derivatives market. Being able to monitor all quotes given by traders continuously, retail investors are now able to determine exactly the price to trade at.