MTS S.p.A. Board Lifts Temporary Trading Limits

The Board of MTS S.p.A. announces that the temporary measure introduced on 4 August 2004, which limited transaction sizes on its markets in relation to a two minute timeframe, has been withdrawn.

The measure, introduced in the wake of large transactions executed on the system in early August, limited the execution of transactions within a two-minute period to either (i) €1 billion on MTS S.p.A. and EuroMTS and €500 million on MTS Deutschland or (ii) 20% of the total daily market volume, based on the average market volume over the past 10 trading days on respective markets.

Gianluca Garbi, Chief Executive of MTS S.p.A., commented: “Today’s decision, in line with last month’s introduction of the temporary restriction, fully reflects market consensus. Our priority at MTS, which is integral to our model, is to reflect the structure of the European bond market and this, in turn, is synonymous with ensuring that the requests of market participants are continuously addressed.”

The Board decision was taken following a recommendation of the relevant internal Committee composed of market participants responsible for - amongst other matters - reviewing trading rules.