Clearstream’s activity figures for November 2008

Clearstream: In November 2008, the value of assets under custody held on behalf of customers registered a 4.1 percent decrease at € 10.5 trillion (compared to € 10.9 trillion in November 2007), primarily due to lower equity market valuations and despite an increase in bonds. Securities held under custody in Clearstream’s international business experienced a rise of 8.1 percent from € 4.9 to € 5.4 trillion while domestic German securities held under custody decreased by 14.1 percent from € 6.0 trillion to € 5.1 trillion.

International settlement transactions decreased by 22.8 percent (2.38 million) compared to November 2007 (3.08 million). International Over the Counter (OTC) bond transactions grew by 19.7 percent from 1.05 million to 1.26 million in November 2008. Of all international transactions, 74.7percent were OTC transactions and 25.3 percent were registered as stock exchange transactions.

On the German domestic market, settlement transactions reached 6.62 million, 18.1 percent less than in November 2007 (8.08 million). Of these transactions, 67.1 percent were stock exchange transactions and 32.9 percent OTC transactions.

For Global Securities Financing (GSF) services, the monthly average outstandings reached a new record high at € 426.7 billion. The combined services, which include triparty repo, securities lending and collateral management, collectively experienced a rise of 19.8 percent over November 2007 (€ 356.3 billion).

In the Investment Funds services, 369,071 transactions were processed, a 40.9 percent decrease over November 2007 (624,576) as a result of reduced European investment funds transactions.