LIFFE Commodity Products To Migrate To LIFFE CONNECT™ 4th Quarter 2000

The London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange (LIFFE) announced today its decision to migrate all its commodity contracts to its state-of-the-art electronic trading platform, LIFFE CONNECT™, following consultation with its members and market users. This is planned for the fourth quarter of 2000. Bill Smit, LIFFE's Head of Non-Financial Products said, "LIFFE CONNECT™ is the world's most advanced electronic trading system. The functionality available is unparalleled, having been developed in conjunction with our customers and Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) - the suppliers of front-end trading software. The transfer of commodity contracts is possible without the need for further significant development of the host trading system because much of the additional functionality requested by market users can already be provided by LIFFE's ISVs. There is broad support for the migration of commodity products to LIFFE CONNECT™. However further consultation with the Exchange's Commodity Advisory Groups, members and market users will take place. This will be centred around the core functionality of the system and the services provided by LIFFE's ISVs in order to ensure that the optimum trading environment for LIFFE Commodity Products is provided."