Seventeen account holders, representing more than 45% of investment-fund order flows in France, and 10 centralising agents, accounting for about 80% of all order flows in France, are currently connected to the platform.

The 2006 launch of the service to route and process fund instructions enables the French funds industry to benefit from full STP for all Euroclear France eligible domestic and foreign funds, representing over 3,000 funds, including about 25% of all French funds.

The Euroclear France fund-processing platform, which offers order routing, settlement and custody STP services, is compatible with current practices in the French market. It also meets recommendations set by AFTI (the French Association of Securities Professionals) and AFG (the French Asset Management Association).

Brigitte Daurelle, Secretary General of Euroclear France, said: "From a gradual increase in orders from our initial clients in 2006, we experienced a pronounced rise in volumes during the fourth quarter of 2007. We are delighted that the fund-processing solution offered by Euroclear France is increasingly used by the market as a secure and cost-efficient solution. Clients are benefiting from a 50 to 80% decrease in costs compared with the manual order-routing process used previously."