BME And FTSE Launch Spanish Responsible Investment Index

Bolsas y Mercados Españoles (BME) and FTSE Group (FTSE), the award-winning global index provider, today launch the FTSE4Good IBEX, a new responsible investment index made up of companies listed on the BME that demonstrate good practice in corporate social responsibility.

The new index is specifically designed to support structured products, index funds, and ETFs, and will also actively encourage Spanish companies to adopt international standards of responsible business practice.

To be included in the index, companies need to demonstrate that they meet the FTSE4Good environmental and social criteria.

The FTSE4Good criteria are developed using an extensive market consultation process and are approved by an independent committee of experts. A broad range of stakeholders help shape the criteria, including NGOs, governmental bodies, consultants, academics, the investment community and the corporate sector.

The following 27 Spanish companies have met the FTSE4Good IBEX selection criteria and are included in the index:

Jorge Yzaguirre Scharfhausen, Head of Equity Unit, BME said: "By participating in the creation, calculation and dissemination of the FTSE4Good IBEX Index, BME reaffirms its commitment to corporate social responsibility while at the same time offering investors the chance to invest in a new sector that is generating growing interest. The launch of the index will contribute to a greater awareness of the importance of responsible investment in Spain, which the Spanish stock exchange wants to lead.”

Imogen Dillon Hatcher, Managing Director, FTSE EMEA said, “The FTSE4Good Index Series has become a globally recognised benchmark for investors wishing to identify responsible business practice. The increasing interest from investors in understanding the environmental risk and performance has led FTSE to develop the FTSE4Good Ibex index specifically for investors who are looking to identify and invest in Spanish companies that meet both local and international Corporate Social Responsibility standards.”

About BME
Bolsas y Mercados Españoles (BME) integrates the companies that direct and manage the securities markets and financial systems in Spain. The company brings together the Spanish equity, fixed-income and derivatives markets and their clearing and settlement systems. BME has been a public company since 14 July 2006 and has been included on the IBEX 35® index since 2 July 2007.

About FTSE Group
FTSE Group is a world-leader in the creation and management of indexes. With offices in Beijing, London, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Madrid, Paris, New York, San Francisco, Boston, Shanghai and Tokyo, FTSE Group services clients in 77 countries worldwide. It calculates and manages the FTSE Global Equity Index Series, which includes world-recognized indexes ranging from the FTSE All-World Index, the FTSE4Good series and the FTSEurofirst Index series, as well as domestic indexes such as the prestigious FTSE 100. The company has collaborative arrangements with the Athens, AMEX, Cyprus, Euronext, Johannesburg London, Madrid, NASDAQ and Taiwan exchanges, as well as Nomura Securities and Xinhua Finance of China. FTSE also has a collaborative agreement with Dow Jones Indexes to develop a single sector classification system for global investors.
FTSE indexes are used extensively by investors world-wide for investment analysis, performance measurement, asset allocation, portfolio hedging and for creating a wide range of index tracking funds. Independent committees of senior fund managers, derivatives experts, actuaries and other experienced practitioners review all changes to the indexes to ensure that they are made objectively and without bias. Real-time FTSE indexes are calculated on systems managed by Reuters. Prices and FX rates used are supplied by Reuters.

About FTSE4Good Index Series
FTSE4Good is an innovative series of real-time indices designed to reflect the performance of socially responsible equities. The series, created and managed by global index provider FTSE Group, covers five markets: UK, Europe, Japan, US and Global. Four tradable and six benchmark indices make up the FTSE4Good index series. A committee of independent practitioners in socially responsible investment, (SRI) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) review the indices to ensure that they are an accurate reflection of current CSR best practice. FTSE Group contributes income including licence fees for FTSE4Good to UNICEF, the global charity.