Leipzig, 20 October 2011

EEX Power Derivatives will launch trading in French Financial Futures on 24 November 2011. The new contracts are month, quarter and year futures which are settled by means of cash settlement – unlike the physical futures which can be traded so far. The price on the spot market, which is established in the daily EPEX SPOT auction for the French market area, constitutes the underlying for the settlement of the French base and peak futures which takes place on every exchange trading day.

As a result, the participants on the French Derivatives Market will have all maturities which can also be traded on the Phelix Futures Market at their disposal as financially settled derivatives contracts from November. The new futures will replace the current physical French Power Futures, which will no longer be traded from then on. All trading participants can transfer their existing positions in physical futures into positions in the “French Financial Future” free of charge. As in the case of the Phelix Future, the participants in trading in French Financial Futures also have the option of having their financial positions fulfilled physically on the Spot Market of EPEX SPOT.

“The harmonisation of the settlement processes on the Derivatives Market for Germany and France makes trading in French Futures easier”, explains Oliver Maibaum, Managing Director Exchange, and adds: “Moreover, we can attract new groups of participants – such as banks and financial service providers – through financial settlement, in addition.”

With this step EEX is implementing the proposals for the further development of the Power Derivatives Market submitted by the Working Committee Power, which reports to the Exchange Council.

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The European Energy Exchange (EEX) develops, operates and connects secure, liquid and transparent markets. EEX holds 50 percent of the shares in EPEX SPOT SE, which operates the Spot Market for power for Germany, France, Austria and Switzerland.

www.eex.com