Paris, October 14, 1998 -- Convinced that Euribor will be the benchmark for money markets in the euro zone, Matif is moving to ensure that Pibor and Euribor futures are the most liquid contracts in their segment of the European interest-rate market.The initiative will be underpinned by leading French banks, already major players on the franc-denominated money market and sponsors of the Euribor index. As such, they will play a key role in the euro money market.

Participating banks have undertaken to offer users of Matif's Pibor and Euribor contracts narrow spreads for sizeable quantities at all delivery dates, as well as for strips¹ . The NSC trading system includes a price-request function based on options-market practice which will allow participants to obtain a quote for any delivery date at all times. This will clearly ease operations for the banks involved and by the same token help to make Paris the core market for Euribor futures and options.

The banks' total commitment in the first year of trading will make for a market depth of 2,000 lots at all times (2 billion euros) with bid/ask spreads of just three ticks² .

The new framework will be in place by mid-November at the latest, two months before the switch to the euro. Until the end of the year it will apply to Pibor and Euribor contracts, both of which are based on the Euribor index for dates after January 1, 1999. From 4 January 1999, it will concern only the Euribor contract, which will benefit from the shift of 200,000 lots in open interest from the Pibor contract, and 80,000 lots in open interest from Meff Renta Fija's Mibor contract.

Note: Trading in the first delivery month of the Euribor future (March 1999) has been open since September 15. Pibor futures will no longer be traded from 1 January 1999, when positions will be automatically converted to Euribor.

Contacts:
Antoinette Bouvier-Darpy - Tel: + 33 1 40 28 83 89
Nathalie Boschat - Tel: +44 171 332 59 20

¹ Ticks or trading increments for Pibor and Euribor contracts are 0.005% of nominal value or half a basis point.

² Strips-instruments allowing simultaneous trading in four delivery dates- will become available on the NSC system in the course of November.