Paris, December 2nd, 1998 -- Starting Monday December 14, the eve of the switchover from Pibor to Euribor positions, four major French banks will be providing decisive backing for the Matif Euribor future. The banks, all sponsors of the Euribor interest-rate index, include:

• Banque Nationale de Paris
• CDC Marchés
• Crédit Agricole - Indosuez
• Société Générale

Committed to offering bid/ask spreads for significant quantities, together they will guarantee market depth of:

• 2,000 lots with a bid/ask spread of three ticks in the first year of trading
• 1,000 lots with a bid/ask spread of four ticks for the second year of trading
• 1,000 lots for simultaneous trading in four delivery months (strips); this option, which is currently available on NSC and no other automated trading system, is particularly widely used for short-term contracts.

All participants will thus be able to obtain bid and ask prices for any maturity through the request-for-quote function on NSC.

These arrangements meet the requirements of market depth on the short-term euro market, while at the same time enabling market makers to keep risk under control. They will thus help Matif take the lead in short-term contracts and compete effectively with the open-outcry markets which currently dominate the shorter end of the yield curve. The liquidity of Matif's Euribor contract will also benefit from the rollover of open interest representing 250,000 lots of short-term contracts on Matif and Meff Renta Fija, with all members of the latter having access to the NSC platform as of January 4 next year. Added impetus should soon come from participation of members of Italy's futures market, Mif. Discussions concerning cross membership and trading similar to arrangements already agreed with Meff are now at an advanced stage.

Matif SA would like to remind participants that while the Pibor contract will remain listed up until June 14, 1999, it will not be tradable after January 4. Positions may be switched to the Euribor contract in three ways:

• trades in inter-contract spreads with a set ratio, available on NSC since November 26, allow the conversion of four French-franc contracts into three euro contracts. This option, available through to December 31, simplifies the rollover by making direct allowance for the difference between nominal value (one million euro for the Euribor contract and FRF 5 million for the Pibor contract),
• conversion procedures implemented by members,
• conversion procedures implemented by Matif SA.

No margin calls will be made for the last two procedures.

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