NASDAQ OMX, KUWAIT STOCK EXCHANGE FORM TECHNOLOGY PARTNERSHIP

Posted October 12, 2009

STOCKHOLM and NEW YORK - The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:NDAQ) has signed an agreement with the Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) to provide trading technology and strategic advisory services.

Under a joint venture to develop the Kuwait capital market, Nasdaq OMX will deliver technology for trading, surveillance and market data to KSE.

Nasdaq OMX will also provide strategic advisory services to the KSE management team to support Kuwait’s compliance with international standards and to develop its national capital market. Plans call for the implementation of a new electronic trading platform at KSE for equities, bonds and derivatives. Roll out of initial product classes is scheduled for the first half of 2011.

“[The] state-of-the-art system will put them at the technology forefront among Middle East exchanges,” says Lars Ottersgard, Senior Vice President Nasdaq OMX Market Technology. “Kuwait is a key financial center in the Middle East and we are confident that our collaboration will act to further attract investor awareness both to the exchange and Kuwait’s financial market as a whole.”

KSE intends to use the new IT systems to introduce new products and services, adds a Kuwait Stock Exchange spokesman. Nasdaq OMX opened a regional office in Dubai in January 2009 to support customers in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia region. The deal marks the firm’s eleventh technology customer in the Middle East.