EMCF REDUCES CLEARING FEES

Posted April 7, 2009

AMSTERDAM – European Multilateral Clearing Facility (EMCF), the European central counterparty (CCP), will introduce a 40 percent fee reduction for trades cleared in the UK securities market effective April 14, bringing clearing fees to 3 euro cents per trade.

The clearing fee for other European equities cleared by EMCF will be maintained at 5 euro cents. EMCF is the second-largest European cash equities CCP with volumes of more than one million transactions daily, and is pointing to the fee reduction as another step in its leadership on reducing fees for post-trade services in Europe.

“The strategic price reduction is introduced at a crucial moment for the European cash equities markets and will aid in consolidating the successes of the MTFs serviced by EMCF,” says Jan Booij, Chief Executive Officer of EMCF. “We firmly believe the strategic move ensures we deliver BATS, Chi-X and Nasdaq OMX Europe the most competitive offering available in the market. Increasing competition, most notably in the UK segment, has triggered a competitive response from EMCF. We send a strong message to the trading and clearing community: We will continue our price reductions based upon volume growth and competitor pricing.”

EMCF was established in March 2007 as a joint venture of Nasdaq OMX Nordic Group Inc. and Fortis Bank Nederland N.V. to provide competitive central counterparty clearing services for the rapidly growing MTF [multi-lateral trading facility] market. EMCF currently provides CCP services for BATS, Chi-X, Nasdaq OMX Europe and Nasdaq OMX Nordic.