Milan, December 11th, 1998 -- Meeting in Milan today, representatives of MATIF, MEFF and MIF - the financial futures markets of France, Spain and Italy, respectively - signed a preliminary agreement under which MIF is to join Euro-GLOBEX® alongside MATIF and MEFF Renta Fija.

The alliance between MATIF, MEFF and MIF will be based on a network approach. Upon request, members of one market will automatically become members of the other two. They will be able to trade all products on the three markets using their current workstations, since existing trading platforms will be linked up by the three exchanges. Cross trading is to begin in the first quarter of 1999, which should favour liquidity of the common Euribor futures listed on MATIF.

Euro-GLOBEX® is a network of futures markets set up in June 1998 under an agreement between MATIF and MONEP of France and Spain's MEFF. Its basic principles are to:

• open new distribution channels for each market's products,
• widen the range of products accessible to members of all participating markets,
• offer single-point access to the electronic trading systems of each participating exchange,
• pursue joint marketing policies.

This alliance announced today with MIF is planned to be extended to equity and index derivatives markets - IDEM, MEFF RENTA VARIABLE and MONEP - in the course of 1999. At that time, Euro-GLOBEX® will represent :

• six European derivatives markets,
• more than 500 members,
• more than 2,000 active trading workstations,
• and a trading volume - for the 11 first months of 1998 - of 118 millions lots.

Jean-François Théodore, Chairman of Matif SA and SBF-Paris Bourse, commented: " The agreement signed today will broaden the basis of Euro-GLOBEX®. The members of this alliance share the vision of a network of markets pooling their strengths in terms of liquidity, image, legal status and technology."

" This alliance is another step of our international development policy. It enables us to enlarge our international membership and offer domestic members - through their current workstations - a wider range of products. This is in line with our policy, that is, to be the Exchange which offers all products requested by our members. Moreover, the network approach triggers the further involvement of other Exchanges sharing the same business vision to the benefit of market participants" stated Stefano Preda, Chairman of Borsa Italiana.

" We are pleased that once again we can offer our members access to a greater range of European derivative contracts through our trading platform. This agreement reflects the increasing co-operation between European exchanges faced with the new single currency environment and strengthens the role of those exchanges which share the same principles to build an efficient and world competitive European financial market." declared Josep Manuel Basañez, Chairman of MEFF

Italian derivatives markets MIF and IDEM, founded in 1992 and 1994, respectively, are entirely electronic. MIF interest-rate derivatives includes a 10-year BTP futures and options and a one-month Ribor contract. IDEM trades the MIB30 index futures and related option, MIDEX futures as well as equity options. In 1998, IDEM was the second equity derivatives market in Europe for volumes in monetary terms (underlying value).

Spain's MEFF has been fully electronic since its launch in 1990. It brings together MEFF Renta Fija, which trades fixed-income derivatives, and MEFF Renta Variable, specializing in equity and index derivatives. MEFF traded in 1997 more than 35 millions lots.

MATIF and MONEP are the French derivatives markets for interest-rate and equity/index respectively. They are both fully electronic and their total volume in 1997 was more than 80 million lots.

Press contacts:
Matif SA
Antoinette Bouvier-Darpy - Tel.: +33 1 40 28 83 89
Borsa Italiana
Rita Borgo - Tel.: +39 02 72 42 62 12
Meff
Maria Ramos - Tel.: +34 93 412 11 28