No Intervention From The FCA On HEX's Stock Exchange Pricing

The Finnish Competition Authority finds in its decision dated January 8, 2001 that the stock exchange pricing adopted by HEX January 1, 2000 can not be seen discriminatory to particular brokers or broker groups and thus does not equal abuse of dominant position as defined in the Act on Competition Restrictions.

The investigation of the new stock exchange pricing was commenced due to a complaint made by certain brokers.

The FCA finds that Helsinki Exchanges holds, at least for the moment, a dominant position as defined in the Act on Competition Restriction, as a business undertaking responsible for the public stock trading system and a service provider in Finland. However, the FCA underlines that since there are ongoing significant commercial and technical changes in the stock trading market, the afore mentioned market and the position of Helsinki Exchanges on the said market may change in near future.

HEX disagrees with the FCA on the market definition. In HEX's opinion the competition between marketplaces has tightened and will tighten still. Furthermore, investment behaviour is constantly changing.

According to HEX, the relevant market is broader than the stock market and includes also other investment products. In addition, HEX holds that the market for investment products already geographically exceeds the national market. HEX is not in a dominant position as defined in the Act on Competition Restrictions in these larger markets.