New Credit Lyonnais Options on Paris Bourse SBF SA

Paris Bourse SBF SA will open trading in Crédit Lyonnais equity options on September 14, 1999. This follows the highly successful admission of Crédit Lyonnais shares to the monthly settlement compartment of the Premier Marché on July 8 and their inclusion in the CAC 40 index sample on September 7. The new products include a short-term American option - that is, which can be exercised at any time up to expiration - and a long-term European option, exercisable only on the expiration date. The American option will be traded continuously and the European option by multiple daily call auctions. Trading lots for both will represent ten underlying shares. Crédit Lyonnais (code 18420) was this year's biggest market launch. Daily trading has since averaged EUR 37,801 million, while market capitalisation stood at EUR 9,417 billion on August 31. With the addition of Crédit Lyonnais, there are now 51 listed companies whose shares are the underlying assets for options traded on Paris Bourse SBF SA derivatives markets, while the number of options traded over the NSC electronic system stands at 91.