Joint Venture Is Officially Named Nasdaq Liffe Markets

New York, August 2, 2001—Nasdaq Liffe Markets (NqLX), the joint venture between The Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc. (Nasdaq) and the London Financial Futures and Options Exchange (LIFFE), announced today that Bob Fitzsimmons has been named President and Chief Operating Officer. He is responsible for the implementation of NqLX's strategy and oversight of its day-to-day market operations. He will be located in NqLX's newly opened principal operations office in Chicago. Nasdaq Liffe Markets is headquartered in New York with offices in London and Chicago.

Mr. Fitzsimmons was most recently with Nasdaq's former parent company, the National Association of Securities Dealers, which he joined in 1999 as Executive Director. Prior to that, Mr. Fitzsimmons was a Managing Director at Nomura Securities International, running its futures business. He started the futures division for Nomura Securities in 1990, and within three years, the division was one of the top 20 Futures Commission Merchants (FCMs) measured in terms of customer equity. Before joining Nomura, he was a broker in the Treasury Bond Options Pit for Kidder, Peabody & Co.

Mr. Fitzsimmons became a member of the Chicago Board of Trade in 1987, and was a member of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. He was an active member participant on FCM committees at both exchanges. He also is a member of the CFTC's Technology Advisory Committee. He graduated cum laude from Harvard College and has an MBA from the University of Chicago.

"With the addition of Bob to the Nasdaq Liffe Markets team, we are one giant step closer to being ready for the first day that single-stock futures can start trading in the U.S.," said Warren Langley, NqLX chief executive officer. "His experience and skills will allow us to pull together all of the various pieces of the puzzle necessary to have Nasdaq Liffe Markets up and running and be successful in the single-stock futures market in the U.S."

John Damgard, president of the Futures Industry Association, said, "Bob Fitzsimmons is a great addition to the Nasdaq Liffe management team. Bob's experience in the futures and securities industries will be a great asset to this effort. We look forward to working with him toward a smooth launch of equity futures products for what we expect to be an important new financial product."

Editors Notes:

Nasdaq Liffe Markets will operate on LIFFE CONNECT™, LIFFE's electronic trading platform, when trading begins later this year, and will make use of LIFFE's global distribution network. This provides access to LIFFE CONNECT™ from all three major time zones. The single stock futures will include the most actively traded equities on U.S. markets and exchanges.

NqLX is designed to take advantage of the change in the U.S. regulatory environment that allowed for the repeal of the Shad Johnson Accord, thus allowing U.S. customers to trade futures on individual stocks for the first time on U.S. regulated exchanges. A stock future contract is an agreement between a buyer and a seller to buy or sell a stock at some time in the future at a price agreed upon today.

The Nasdaq Stock Market lists over 4,300 companies, has a larger dollar volume, and trades more shares per day than any other U.S. market. For more information about Nasdaq, visit the Nasdaq Web site at www.nasdaq.com or Newsroom^SM at http://www.nasdaq.com/newsroom

The London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange (LIFFE), established in 1982, is one of the world's leading markets for exchange-traded derivatives. The Exchange is the world centre for euro money market derivatives, with 98% of the benchmark euro interest rate contract and offers a wider range of products traded electronically than any other global exchange. Through the most advanced electronic trading platform - LIFFE CONNECT™ - LIFFE's customers have the flexibility and the opportunity to trade how and where they want, on a system uniquely configured to their own particular needs. Every day £336 billion ($477 billion) is entrusted to LIFFE CONNECT ™ -- more than any other electronic exchange in the world. LIFFE CONNECT™ is the most widely available trading system, located in 385 sites in 23 countries worldwide. For more information about LIFFE, visit the LIFFE web site at www.liffe.com

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