Combination of central limit order book and market making system offers significant benefits for investors and issuers. These include

• Best available prices for investors across exchanges; determines best prices across NASDAQ Europe and the home market of the security
• Improved liquidity and transparency
• Low cost clearing and settlement facilities

London/Frankfurt/Brussels: 7 October: NASDAQ Europe today announces the launch of SuperMontage Europe, the next generation trading platform designed to offer participants the most competitive share prices whilst maximising transparency, liquidity and depth of markets.

SuperMontage Europe allows both brokers and market makers to display their trading interest on an order book system, resulting in increased liquidity and transparency as competition to make the best prices in the market increases.

SuperMontage Europe enhances the European Trading System (ETS), a quote-driven market which was introduced to NASDAQ Europe in June 2001. SuperMontage Europe is being launched in tandem with SuperMontage in the US which goes live on 14 October.

Commenting on the launch, Mike Sanderson, Chief Executive Officer of NASDAQ Europe said: "The introduction of SuperMontage Europe is a win for investors as they will benefit from the best price available on a deeper and more transparent market. It is also a win for traders who will be more confident that they are meeting their best execution responsibilities. This leading edge offers huge benefits to all our market participants."

All current and future instruments, either in the listed or traded segment, will be traded on SuperMontage Europe. Any newly listed Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) or Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) will also be eligible for trading.

Technology and operational details

SuperMontage Europe will allow brokers and market makers to enter into order routing relationships that provide investors with best execution up to a certain size, with the possibility of price improvement. When determining "best execution" for a given stock NASDAQ Europe selects the best price available on the NASDAQ Europe book and a liquid reference market for the security.

Under the current system, professional and individual investors see only a market participant's best buy and sell quote in each security. In SuperMontage Europe, market makers can input all or part of the buy or sell interest, by name or anonymously.

This means that more buyers' and sellers' orders can be displayed and investors will be able to see more of the orders available to them.

This should give traders a higher level of confidence that they can achieve their best execution responsibilities since there will be more liquidity available on a single trading platform.

Summarising the benefits of SuperMontage Europe compared to other European exchanges, the new platform:

• Links to multiple central securities depositories (CSDs). This means low-cost, flexible clearing and settlement for cross-border trades
• Price-Internalisation-Time order execution algorithms maximise the accounts firms can internalise on the book
• Ability to screen out trades that do not require settlement (such as internal trades).

SuperMontage Europe is based on the same principles as SuperMontage in the US but has been customised to European best practice.

For further information on SuperMontage Europe, visit www.nasdaqeurope.com

Contacts:

The Nasdaq Stock Market    020 7825 5506
Peter Yandle/Fiona MacRae

Citigate Dewe Rogerson     020 7638 9571
Patrick Donovan/Simon Rigby/Freida Davidson

Notes to editors
On 7th October 2002, NASDAQ Europe is also updating the NASDAQ Europe Composite Index (NECI). The index will be re-based to 2500. This change is to ensure that the Index continues to accurately track movements in the valuation of its components. It will be calculated using the last sales value for the underlying components for calculation. Prior to 7 October, the NECI was calculated using the best bid/ask mid price of the component securities.

NASDAQ Europe, which is a subsidiary of The Nasdaq Stock Market Inc, has been designed as a truly European exchange. Its unique structure makes it a perfect fit for innovative companies and forward looking investors across Europe and beyond. The market operates across Europe, with a unified infrastructure including a single Rule Book, a single membership, a dedicated trading platform, and a seamless link to cross-border trading and settlement. For further information please visit www.nasdaqeurope.com