Fees In Finnish Equity Options Traded At Eurex Reduced In Order To Increase Trading

On January 2, 2004, Eurex, in close coordination with HEX Integrated Markets, will reduce transaction fees for Finnish equity options traded at Eurex. The goal is to enhance the attractiveness of exchange trading in these products and to draw additional business from the over-the- counter (OTC) market. The fee reduction is expected to have a marginal impact on total revenues within HEX Integrated Markets, a division of OMHEX.

The OTC-trading in options - trading which takes place outside the exchange - has increased significantly during recent years. By reducing transaction fees for Finnish equity options traded at Eurex by up to 57 percent the exchanges aim to achieve growth in trading volumes worldwide on-exchange. In the future, Eurex customers will pay 0.50 euros for trading and clearing a contract, market makers 0.10 euros.

"By lowering the fees we believe that we will regain volumes on- exchange. We want to offer market participants the best services at lower costs by reducing the transaction fees for our equity options," says Jukka Ruuska, Executive Vice President of OMHEX.

The Nokia option is the most liquid Finnish equity option worldwide and one of the most heavily traded equity products at Eurex overall. Some 12 million Nokia contracts have already been traded this year at Eurex.

Eurex and HEX Integrated Markets have been working together since September 1999 in trading with Finnish equity options. Since that time, the most liquid Finnish equity options, such as Nokia, UPM and Sonera, have been listed on Eurex and have thus been tradable for all Eurex customers.