Sir Brian Williamson To Step Down As Chairman Of LIFFE - Will Stay On Euronext Supervisory Board

Sir Brian Williamson is to step down as Chairman of the LIFFE Board on 1 July, after five years in the post, but will continue as a member of the Euronext supervisory board.

The change brings his position into line with Dutch company law, under which membership of a company supervisory board is normally considered to be incompatible with the chairmanship of a subsidiary board.

A special interim exception was made for Sir Brian as part of the terms of the Euronext acquisition of LIFFE to facilitate the integration process.

Sir Brian was appointed to the Supervisory Board of Euronext NV on 23 April 2002 and will continue as a member of this Board.

Commenting on today's announcement, Jean-François Théodore, Chairman of the Managing Board and Chief Executive Officer of Euronext said: "The agreement at the time of our acquisition of LIFFE that Sir Brian should retain the Chairmanship for an interim period has been of immense value in helping to ensure the smooth integration of the LIFFE business into Euronext. The performance of that business since the acquisition, led by Euronext.liffe Chief Executive, Hugh Freedberg, has exceeded our expectations. I am delighted that Sir Brian's advice will continue to be available to the wider group through his continuing membership of the supervisory board."

A rebalancing of the LIFFE Board is already underway with the aim of bringing more independent members and more users of the Group's derivatives markets under a new Chairman who will be non-executive. These appointments will be made in due course.

Sir Brian said, "Prior to the acquisition of LIFFE, the Board considered a number of proposals which sought to enhance LIFFE's own business plan. Euronext succeeded in meeting shareholders' criteria and since then, both in terms of volume of business and expansion of technology, it has been a very successful union. Trading volumes at the exchange are running at record levels; the integration of the technology with the constituent parts of Euronext is well underway and it has also been chosen by exchanges in Japan and the United States. This has been achieved by the business skills and technology expertise brought together by Hugh Freedberg and the vision of Jean-Francois Theodore".