030416_cda MonteTitoli

The Shareholders of Monte Titoli, a Borsa Italiana Group company, met today and approved the financial statement for year 2002 which posted net earnings of €8.5 million on a total turnover of €37.5 million.

Shareholders will receive a dividend of €0.50 for each of the 16,000,000 ordinary shares - of € 1 nominal value - making up the share capital.

The turnover breakdown is: 79% for corresponding payments for the performance of custody and administration services, 17% for clearing and settlement services and 4% for additional services.

In market value terms, at the end of 2002 the total for centralised financial instruments was € 2,000 billion, with over 38,500 different securities (up 15,000 units at the end of 2001).

The centralised management system includes 1,250 issuers.

In January 2002, Monte Titoli launched the Securities Lending & Borrowing service and assumed the responsibility of the RRG/LFM matching service (OTC transactions) and RRG/REL matching service (transactions settled by Express, the DvP real time gross clearing system).

In May 2002 it opened a real-time link with the American central Depositary Trust Company (DTC), offering clients the option of managing US securities and making use of the connected tax service. In September 2002 it centralised the first foreign ETF (Exchange Traded Funds.

During 2002 Monte Titoli also completed the development of the core functions of Express II, the new integrated clearing & settlement platform, and of the new RRG system.

March 2003 saw the positive conclusion of the integration test begun in January and the start of testing with the "pilot group" which will conclude at the end of May; in July the entire system is planned to be tested ahead of the launch of the new platform in Autumn 2003.

Express II, created in line with the very latest international standards, will enable important synergies in technical and operational terms, thus helping to improve the efficiency of Italian financial markets and their integration in the European market.

Milan, 16 April 2003