European Exchanges sign agreement

The heads of eight leading European stock exchanges signed a Memorandum of Understanding in Madrid today (May 4). The Memorandum is formal confirmation of the ongoing commitment by all the exchanges to continue to work jointly towards harmonising the markets for their leading securities and establishing a pan-European equity market. The ratification of the wider European Alliance follows the formation of a strategic alliance between the London Stock Exchange and Frankfurt's Deutsche Börse in July 1998. Since then, discussions have been taking place regularly between the eight exchanges. The signatories to today's Memorandum were: Amsterdam: George Möller (President), Brussels: Olivier Lefebvre (Chief Executive), Frankfurt: Werner Seifert (Chief Executive), London: Gavin Casey (Chief Executive), Madrid: Antonio Zoido (Chairman), Milan: Massimo Capuano (Chief Executive Officer), Paris: Jean-François Théodore (President and Chief Executive Officer), Switzerland: Antoinette Hunziker-Ebneter (Chief Executive). The Memorandum confirms the long-term objectives of the European Alliance, which are to create one single electronic trading platform for blue chip stocks, with common rules and regulations. Key Alliance issues will be discussed by all eight European exchanges. The Exchange Chief Executives said: "Today's signing confirms our shared goal and is another step towards achieving a unified market for Europe's leading securities. We all have the same purpose: to deliver a low-cost, efficient and accessible equity market infrastructure which will help all our countries to benefit from capital market developments in Europe".