Clearstream reports further growth during April 2005

Clearstream's core business areas experienced further growth during April 2005 with the value of assets held in custody on behalf of customers rising to EUR 7.9 trillion, a rise of 2.6 percent from the end of the same month last year (April 2004 EUR 7.7 trillion). The number of international transactions processed by Clearstream also rose to 1.60 million for the month representing a rise of 10.3 percent compared with the same month last year (April 2004: 1.45 million). Of these transactions, 15 percent are registered as stock exchange transactions, 85 percent are Over the Counter (OTC) transactions. For domestic settlement transactions in Germany, the figure stood at 2.70 million in April 2005 representing a decrease of 10.6 percent on the same period last year (April 2004: 3.02 million). The ratio for domestic settlement transactions was 66 percent stock exchange transactions to 34 percent OTC transactions.

Within the Global Securities Financing services business, strong growth continued with the monthly average outstandings reaching EUR 177.2 billion. The combined services include tripartite repo, securities lending and collateral management and collectively experienced a rise of over 38.4 percent from the same month last year (April 2004: EUR 128.0 billion).

Clearstream's investment funds service called Vestima+ showed further volume increases with the number of investment funds related instructions processed reaching 170,146 in April 2005, a rise of 21.2 percent from the same month last year (April 2004: 140,341).

Yolande Theis and Graham Cope will be happy to answer questions from the news desks: phone +352-243-31500