Eurex Extends Wholesale Trading Initiative In European Equity Options - New Wholesale Offering To Significantly Reduce The Cost Of Large Trades - Ferscha: "We Are Aiming To Attract Extra-Large Transactions From The Off-Exchange Space"

The international derivatives market Eurex announced on Thursday that it will extend its initiative to further attract business from the over-the-counter (OTC) market by introducing new wholesale pricing for extra-large block trades in all European equity options. Effective March 1, 2005, block trade fees for extra-large transactions will be capped at the amount incurred for trading 2,000 contracts for German, Swiss and Nordic stock options and 1,000 contracts for Dutch, French, Italian, and U.S. stock options. This will significantly reduce the cost of large trades in these products for Eurex participants and make Eurex even more attractive for institutional investors. OTC block trades are transactions where market participants enter an OTC transaction exceeding a predefined number of contracts directly into the Eurex Clearing's Central Counterparty (CCP).

"This new wholesale offering will further enhance our position as the largest and most liquid marketplace for trading in European equity options. Combined with other recent initiatives in OTC-trading we offer investors not only the broadest spectrum of derivative products but also the most comprehensive portfolio of risk management opportunities," said Rudolf Ferscha, CEO of Eurex. "Eurex believes in the symbiotic relationship between the OTC and on-exchange markets. Our new offering eliminates counterparty risk for market participants, contributes to the overall stability of the market and further enhances the attractiveness of our on-exchange markets."

Eurex expects that the new wholesale pricing will further attract business from the OTC-space, bringing extended benefits to customers. Through participating in the straight-through-processing of the proven and reliable Eurex Clearing process, customers will benefit from lowered risk and reduced necessary credit lines. With the launch of the latest Eurex software release on November 1, Eurex expanded its on screen OTC offering with the extended basis trade facility Exchange for Physicals (EFP) and newly implemented facility Exchange for Swaps (EFS). These new OTC functionalities enable fixed-income debt instruments denominated in Euro to be traded against Euro fixed-income futures and fixed income debt instruments denominated in CHF against CONF Futures. This offers Eurex participants utmost flexibility in configuring their specific cash transactions in combination with Eurex fixed-income futures.