Today is a new day for Europe's financial markets. Today for the first time, three national stock exchanges, Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris, are merging to create one single company, EURONEXT. Today, we deliver what we had announced only six months ago, last March, in London: the creation of the first fully integrated pan European exchange.

EURONEXT is not just another merger. It is the first attempt to take advantage of the immense potential of the European financial market opened by the implementation of the single currency. Compared to the US, the European financial market has still room for growth. And it is already undergoing significant changes, from savings to securities, from debt to equity, from domestic to cross border. On our stock markets, volumes are skyrocketing and all studies forecast this dramatic growth will continue in the coming years. Still, Europe's financial markets remain fragmented and domestic, with more than 30 different trading and clearing systems combined with different national regulations. Most European exchanges offer state of the art electronic trading and clearing systems and excellent listing services on national securities. But they still lack the pan-European dimension. For global intermediaries and issuers this situation is an expensive paradox. They would like to benefit from the additional liquidity, the reduced cost of capital, and the improved cross-border trading and clearing conditions integrated pan-European capital markets could bring.

EURONEXT addresses their needs. It is the first exchange to offer users a fully integrated trading, netting, clearing and settlement solution on a pan European basis. EURONEXT will have one single order book, one single rule book, one single trading system, one single counterparty, one platform for settlement. For these two last points, keep in mind that in January CLEARNET SA will unify the clearing structures of our three exchanges and that our three national CSDs will merge into EUROCLEAR. This will generate -beginning next year- huge economies of scale for intermediaries and investors alike.

Regarding issuers, EURONEXT's choice has been to give them what they want, namely to keep the regulatory environment they are familiar with, while being able to access -from their national roots- additional liquidity by tapping directly the other countries' savings pools. By creating the largest exchange in Europe in terms of trading volumes, EURONEXT will not only attract domestic companies -domestic being now Dutch, Belgian and French- but also companies from other countries, including the USA.

EURONEXT is not a vision it's a reality :

we are fast : the merger we announced in March is now completed. Soon, EURONEXT indices will be launched as well as the new market segmentation and new products.

We are pragmatic: putting up with the diversity of company laws and keeping local user-friendliness for our clients.

We are creative: with the help of our three regulators, we are inventing the first pan-European rule book, the first pan-European membership status, harmonizing local regulation in order to build our industrial project.

Last but not least EURONEXT is an open venture. Open to other exchanges and not limited to Europe's borders. We are proud to be the European hub of the GEM, the Global Equity Market project, that we announced together with the New York Stock Exchange and other exchanges.

Ladies and Gentlemen, by uniting the three exchanges we are creating a large and seamless market combining trading on a single platform with efficient clearing and settlement. We believe that EURONEXT answers the needs of our clients. We believe EURONEXT answer the needs of the European financial market users. And, in that regard, we are pleased to have obtained the unanimous support from our shareholders on this merger.

Today is a new day for the consolidation of Europe's financial market. It will not be the last but you can be sure that EURONEXT will be at the forefront of this historic evolution.

Moreover, EURONEXT is committed to the future of Europe. This sense of commitment means that we are outward-looking, openinf the windows, looking beyond the merely familiar, and further than what we have already achieved. All of this is designed to help our clients achieve maximum growth.

We have created a motto for this commitment : "go for growth". With EURONEXT, we are going for growth. With EURONEXT, we wish YOU, all our clients, to GROW with us.