The Board of Trade Clearing Corporation and Nasdaq Liffe Markets Sign Agreement on Processing 'Give-Ups'.

Business Editors

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 7, 2002

The Board of Trade Clearing Corporation (the "Clearing Corporation") and Nasdaq Liffe Markets LLC ("NQLX") today jointly announced that they have entered into an agreement under which the Clearing Corporation will process "give-up" -related brokerage payments for NQLX member firms.

NQLX, a joint venture of the Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc. (Nasdaq) and the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange (LIFFE), will offer futures contracts on individual stocks. The market is scheduled to begin trading in Q-2, 2002.

Under the agreement, the Clearing Corporation will provide brokerage fee collection and payment services for member firms executing "give-up" transactions. In addition, the Clearing Corporation will develop the interface with NQLX necessary to provide the payment service.

A give-up transaction occurs when a member firm (the "Carrying Member") contracts with another firm (the "Executing Member") to execute a trade. The Executing Member then "gives up" the transaction to the Carrying Member. BOTCC will process the brokerage fees associated with such transactions using *GAINS(R) (Give-up Automated Invoicing System).

Dennis Dutterer, President and CEO of the Clearing Corporation, said: "Our agreement illustrates the Clearing Corporation's strategic decision to offer value-added clearing, processing and problem-solving services in new and emerging marketplaces. Both our shareholders and the exchanges for which we provide clearing services benefit as we broaden our client base."

Bob Fitzsimmons, President of NQLX, said: "We are very pleased with this agreement because it further enhances the suite of tools we are making available to our members."

BOTCC is a registered trademark of the Board of Trade Clearing Corporation.

*GAINS is a registered trademark of the Board of Trade Clearing Corporation and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

About The Clearing Corporation

The Clearing Corporation, a Delaware corporation, now in its 77th year of business, maintains a Standard & Poor's AAA rating and approximately $185 million in capital. The Clearing Corporation is owned by its clearing member stockholders and is the only active independent derivatives clearing house in the world. For more information, please visit www.botcc.com.

About NQLX

NQLX is the first U.S. marketplace, since the repeal of the Shad Johnson Accord in September of 2000, to be approved by the CFTC for trading of single stock futures. This joint venture between Nasdaq and LIFFE was announced in March of 2001 and is a wholly electronic exchange offering a broad range of contracts. NQLX is an independent exchange and uses LIFFE CONNECT(TM), the world's most advanced derivatives trading system, as its trading platform. For more information, please visit www.nqlx.com