SEC Chairman, Euronext Regulators Meet to Discuss Cooperation in the Event of the NYSE Euronext Combination

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2006-165

Washington, D.C., Sept. 27, 2006 - U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox and the Chairman's Committee of the Euronext regulators met in Lisbon Tuesday in light of a potential combination between the NYSE Group, Inc. and Euronext N.V. into NYSE Euronext. They discussed the development of a possible framework for consultation and mutual cooperation in the interest of meeting their respective regulatory mandates in the areas of investor protection, orderly functioning and integrity of the markets. The regulators also affirmed that joint ownership or affiliation of markets alone would not lead to regulation from one jurisdiction becoming applicable in the other and stated their shared belief in the importance of local regulation of local markets.

"The United States is committed to close cooperation and collaboration with our partners in other nations as securities markets and financial services expand globally," Chairman Cox said. "These meetings have gone far in focusing our joint efforts to promote healthy and increasingly efficient capital markets for the benefit of investors."

On June 1, 2006, the NYSE Group and Euronext NV announced the signing of a combination agreement in order to create a new group, NYSE Euronext Inc. The holding company is proposed to be incorporated in the United States, the shares of which would be listed on NYSE and on Euronext Paris. The proposed combination is subject to prior authorizations by the respective Euronext Regulators and, in some cases, the Ministers of Finance, on the European side and by the SEC in the United States.

Regulators are not taking a position on the proposed combination. They recognize that shareholders will ultimately decide on whether the proposed combination will go forward. Therefore, the framework for regulatory cooperation would come into effect once shareholders and relevant authorities have given their final decisions.

Regulators are conscious that markets are globalizing, to the potential benefit of investors everywhere, making increased international cooperation of regulators essential.

The Chairman's Committee of the Euronext regulators was represented by:

• Commissioner Paul Koster, Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM), Netherlands;
• Chairman Michel Prada, Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), France;
• Chairman Eddy Wymeersch, Commission Bancaire et Financière et des Assurances (CBFA), Belgium;
• Chairman Carlos Tavares, Comissão do Mercado de Valores Mobiliários (CMVM), Portugal; and
• Director of Markets Division Sally Dewar, Financial Services Authority (FSA), United Kingdom.

http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2006-165.htm