Holding Company For The Operations Of ICEX And The Icelandic Securities Depository Founded

After shareholders meetings of the Iceland Stock Exchange (ICEX) and the Icelandic Securities Depository (ISD), a new holding company, Eignarhaldsfélagið Verðbréfaþing hf., was established for the operations of both companies. At the ICEX shareholders meeting, it was furthermore agreed to change the Icelandic name of ICEX from "Verðbréfaþing Íslands" to "Kauphöll Íslands". This name change will not affect the English version, Iceland Stock Exchange. The establishment of the holding company is intended to increase the cooperation between ICEX and ISD and to gain economies of scale. Shareholders of the holding company are the same groups as the owners of ICEX and ISD.

Mr. Thordur Fridjonsson, will be president and CEO of the holding company and ICEX, while Mr. Einar Sigurjonsson is the managing director of ISD. The shareholders of ICEX will hold 69% of the shares in the holding company and the owners of ISD will hold 31% of the shares. There will be 9 members on the board of "Eignarhaldsfélagið Verðbréfaþing". Thordur Fridjonsson says: "We will explore all possibilities of cooperation to achieve economies of scale and to increase the efficiency of both companies." He adds that the formation of the holding company also sends out signals to the market that the two companies will work closely together and in line with each other's decisions and opinions. "This is one important step to further strengthen the Icelandic securities market," says Thordur.

ICEX and ISD will move their operations to joint premises next autumn.