Mondo Visione Worldwide Financial Markets Intelligence

FTSE Mondo Visione Exchanges Index:

Three Months Of Mutual Funds Trading On The Frankfurt Stock Exchange - Riess Strikes Positive Interim Balance

Date 17/08/2006

After three months of trading with mutual funds, Deutsche Börse has struck a positive interim balance: “Since the launch of trading with mutual funds on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, the segment has performed very well,” said Rainer Riess Managing Director Stock Market Business Development. “At its peak, order book turnover reached a market share of 35 percent, with the average totaling 25 percent most recently.” On 19 May, Deutsche Börse launched trading with around 2,600 actively managed mutual funds in the Frankfurt Stock Exchange’s Open Market.

The new segment is particularly attractive to private investors, who are able to trade a broad spectrum of funds without a front-end load. According to Riess: “We are making investors an extremely attractive offer in that we define minimum quotation volumes and maximum spreads, and guarantee the highest possible price quality.” Between 9 am and 8 pm, intermediaries at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange provide quotes starting at a minimum of €20,000 or €100,000 with maximum spreads of 0.5 to 2.0 percent, according to the type of fund. This ensures high liquidity and the lowest possible transaction costs for private investors trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

Deutsche Börse is planning to implement further measures to improve quality in fund trading: in the second half of the year, the standards of performance measurement and continual monitoring of quality standards common in equities trading will be expanded to mutual funds. The Frankfurt Stock Exchange will in this way provide the greatest degree of transparency for trading in these funds. The Frankfurt Stock Exchange already offers private investors free real-time quotes for all mutual funds, which can be accessed via its website www.boerse-frankfurt.com as well as numerous financial portals and online brokers.

Deutsche Börse has continually expanded its offering for private investors in recent years and established itself as the reference market. The Frankfurt Stock Exchange provides a broad range of products for private investors: 7,000 German and international equities, over 45,000 certificates and reverse convertibles, more than 55,000 warrants, 8,600 German and foreign government and corporate bonds, and more than 2,700 actively and passively managed funds, including ETFs. As a neutral exchange operator, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange thus provides private investors with the widest selection of all German and European stock exchanges at the best prices.