Press

By mid-1998, Deutsche Börse and Schweizer Börse (SWX) plan to operate their respective derivatives markets, DTB and SOFFEX, as a common market called "Eurex" with a uniform technical platform and largely harmonized rules and regulations. The announcement was made by Dr. Jörg Fischer, chairman of the Eurex AG founded in January, and chairman of SWX, and Dr. Jörg Franke, chief executive of Eurex and member of the Deutsche Börse Executive Board, on Thursday evening at an international financial conference on the Bürgenstock near Lucerne, Switzerland. Deutsche Börse AG and SWX AG each hold a 50 percent interest in Eurex AG.

As Fischer put it, Deutsche Börse and SWX thus respond to the ongoing process of structural change in the European financial markets, which will become much more acute when the euro is introduced. Under Eurex, two exchanges will be pooling their electronic trading and clearing functions for the first time. With the combined DTB-SOFFEX membership and the technological know-how, Eurex will be in an excellent starting position to meet the growing competition between the financial centers. Eurex can become the core of a European derivatives market, Fischer said, because it is open for networking with other exchanges. Eurex will also create the basis for a uniform technical standard with high potential for synergies with internationally operating financial-service providers and their customers.

Under Eurex, the supervisory jurisdiction of the relevant authorities in Germany and Switzerland will remain intact. Cooperation between the supervisory authorities of the two countries is to be pursued parallel to the course of the project. Members of the exchange shall become members of the whole market at no additional cost. The DTB trading and clearing system, which was derived from the SOFFEX system, will serve as the technological platform. The technical prerequisites for the uniform platform are to be created by the middle of 1998. In view of the euro's introduction and because of Eurex's cross-border approach, the creation of multi-currency capability is a priority. In addition, functionalities which to date have existed exclusively at SOFFEX will be integrated into the DTB system.

Fischer and Franke see Eurex as having benefits on various levels. Initially, the larger number of products, the enhanced functionalities and the higher liquidity will make the market more attractive. At the same time, the costs will be lower for participants, due to the uniform technical and regulatory standards as well as the planned cross-margining between the two markets.

In addition to Eurex AG chairman Fischer (Bank J. Vontobel & Co. AG), other members of the company's board of directors are Dr. Werner G. Seifert and Dr. Reto Francioni of the Deutsche Börse Executive Board. In addition, a strategic advisory board will be formed, whose members will be Dr. Josef Ackermann (Deutsche Bank), Werner Bonadurer (UBS), Dr. Markus Granziol (SBC Warburg) and Gerd Häusler (Dresdner Bank). On the company's executive committee Franke will be joined by Otto E. Nägeli and Jürg Spillmann, both members of the SWX management, as well as Andreas Preuss, senior vice president at Deutsche Börse.