Paris, 15 October 1998 -- The SBF Group today announced it will use S.W.I.F.T. message standards to facilitate the clearing of exchange-traded financial instruments on the Paris exchanges.

In line with its open architecture policy, the SBF Group will adopt S.W.I.F.T. messaging formats for the Clearing 21® project and promote the S.W.I.F.T. network as an alternative to the existing means of communication for Clearing 21®.

All members of the Paris exchanges will be offered the option to use S.W.I.F.T. messaging at the start of Clearing 21® in the first half of 1999.

The use of standard message formats and the S.W.I.F.T. network will provide Clearing 21® a common language and a common, secure access point between the clearing system and its users.

Members of the SBF Group who are currently using the S.W.I.F.T. network will have easy access to all clearing functions within the Clearing 21® framework, in addition to the electronic messaging capacities of the S.W.I.F.T. network for payments, treasury, and securities operations.

This announcement further demonstrates the commitment of the Paris financial centre to provide open architecture solutions to global financial players.

Note to Editors:

SBF Group The SBF Group is responsible for the organization, operation and promotion of the French equity and derivatives markets, the Paris Bourse, the fifth stock exchange in the world, MATIF the fifth derivatives market in the world, and MONEP, the first european market for equities and index derivatives
In 1997, in an innovative software swap with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the SBF Group agreed to use Clearing 21 for all of Paris markets clearing's operation while the CME agreed to use NSC, the SBF Group's electronic trading system.NSC has been acquired by over a dozen exchanges in the world.
Clearing 21® is the state of the art clearing software developed by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the New York Mercantile Exchange. According to a marketing agreement signed in March the CME and MATIF will promote the use of standardized systems (NSC and Clearing 21) to financial exchanges all over the world.

S.W.I.F.T., the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, is the bank-owned cooperative supplying secure messaging services and interface software to over 6,000 financial institutions in 177 countries. S.W.I.F.T.'s global network carried over 800 million messages in 1997.
The average daily value of payment messages on the S.W.I.F.T. network is estimated to be above US$ 2 trillion. S.W.I.F.T. helps its customers reduce costs, improve automation, and manage risk. In addition to its 3,000 member banks, S.W.I.F.T. users include brokers, investment managers, securities deposit and clearing organisations, and stock exchanges. Please find more information about S.W.I.F.T. on its website: www.swift.com.