SEC GRANTS EXCHANGE STATUS TO FORMER ECN BATS TRADING

Posted August 18, 2008

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – BATS Trading Inc. has received approval from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to operate as a registered national securities exchange. BATS will transition from its existing regulatory status as an ECN [electronic communications network] to becoming a full-fledged exchange within 60 days.

“As we have stressed repeatedly, our motivation to become an exchange has come from our desire to participate directly in the national market system and compete on a level playing field with our primary competitors, Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange,” says Joe Ratterman, Chief Executive Officer of BATS Trading.

BATS stakeholders include Citi, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, GETCO, JPMorgan, Lehman Brothers, Lime Brokerage, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Tradebot and Wedbush.

“The approval to operate as a national securities exchange gives us even more reason to pursue our strategy of ‘Making Markets Better,’” says Ratterman. “We realize there is a lot of hard work ahead of us as we take on added regulatory responsibility, but we look forward to the challenge and the opportunity to provide exchange services to our members.”