PRESS RELEASE

The new www.borsaitaliana.it website, featuring a fresh graphic design, new navigation structure and extended content, is now online.

Borsa Italiana carried out an investigation into internet users’ needs and demands for financial information and, by enlisting the help of leading research institutes, it was able to identify the pivotal qualities of the new website organisation: user-friendliness, easily-accessed information, authoritativeness and independence.

Hence Borsa Italiana’s website has become an instrument providing information, documentation and in-depth analysis not only for the benefit of the financial community but indeed for the entire internet population.

The product has been completely overhauled, commencing from the layout, which has been created in a vertical format to enhance visibility of the numerous topic areas and to make reading more simple and functional.

The navigation structure has been simplified, favouring segmentation by single financial instrument (Shares, ETFs and Funds, Derivatives, Covered Warrants and Bonds) in the markets area.

Furthermore, all the information concerning listed companies or financial instruments has been grouped around the respective stock exchange listings, offering an immediate and comprehensive survey, highlighting the important points.

The countless changes –from ease and immediacy of use to guided access through increasingly in-depth information, from the interactive graphics to the upgraded, streamlined research engine- have been supported by informative tools and features, which allow users to heighten their knowledge of the world of finance and to make informed decisions regarding own investments.

The instructive and informative sections of the website have been enhanced by new features, amongst which; a replete "Glossary" which, thanks to the contribution of one of the most prestigious Italian universities, boasts over 1,000 terms; the "Focus On" section which illustrates the most important new developments and where each week a new subject will be explained in simple, straightforward terms; "News from Borsa", which contains Borsa Italiana’s institutional reports to its own customers, to listed companies and to investors; "Borsa Newsline", set up in collaboration with Message, which explains and expands on the contents of the thousands of reports drawn up by listed companies; "Market Commentary", with thrice-daily articles summarising the principal events of the day’s trading; "The Stock Exchange today", summary of the week’s appointments, such as financial statements presentations, detachment of coupons, take-over bids and IPOs.

Lastly, thanks to an exclusive agreement with Reuters, Borsa Italiana has implemented a joint venture website which combines the editorial and current-affairs approach of a leading exponent in the field of financial information like Reuters with the wealth and authoritativeness of the content and corporate documentation provided by Borsa.

The new layout has lead to a radical reorganisation of advertising formats, which now enjoy heightened visibility and "impact" thanks to a series of communication tools devised to satisfy each and every need: from the wide ranging advertising formats such as leader-board, ticker, wide skyscraper and text link, to the special editorials and newsletters

A campaign to promote the new website through the press, radio and web will be launched in October.

Milan, 28 September 2005