Peter Keller To Depart From The SWX And virt-x

Peter Keller, Member of the Management Committee of the SWX Swiss Exchange and CEO of virt-x, will be leaving the SWX Group on 31 July 2005 by mutual agreement. Jim Gollan, currently his deputy, will succeed him as the CEO of virt-x. The areas Peter Keller has been responsible for at the SWX will be taken over by Heinrich Henckel, CEO SWX Swiss Exchange.

Peter Keller has been working for the group for more than eleven years. From 1994 through March 1995, he was involved in the Member Support Center of the Swiss Electronic Exchange (SEE) project. In 1996, he became the Head of the Surveillance Office of the SEE's successor, the SWX Swiss Exchange. Two years later, he was named Head of Market, Participants & Acquisition. In January 2000, he joined the Management Committee of the SWX Swiss Exchange as the Head of the Markets Division. Peter Keller was materially involved in the establishment of virt-x, the London-based blue-chip exchange, and was appointed its CEO in October 2002.

Within the management of the SWX Group, Peter Keller assumed technical and operational responsibility for Market Development and Market Operations.

The SWX Swiss Exchange and virt-x would like to take this opportunity to thank Keller for his strong commitment to the success of the group.