Francioni will assume his new responsibility at the earliest possible date. The members of the Supervisory Board elected Kurt Viermetz new Chairman taking over the position from Rolf Breuer, who resigned from the Supervisory Board as of the end of the meeting.

Viermetz acknowledged Breuer's service to Deutsche Börse and thanked him for over twelve years of service as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Deutsche Börse.

"Rolf Breuer's name will always be connected with the FWB Frankfurt Stock Exchange and Deutsche Börse AG, as well as with the Xetra trading platform, the foundation of the Eurex derivatives exchange, Deutsche Börse's successful IPO, and the integration of Clearstream International into Deutsche Börse Group," said Viermetz. "With Breuer at the helm, Deutsche Börse progressed to become the world's leading exchange organization. I would like to thank Rolf Breuer on behalf of the Supervisory Board for his extremely successful work on the Supervisory Board."

The Executive Board and Supervisory Board have defined the strategic positioning of the Group. Building on its successful business model, which covers the entire securities processing chain, the Company will continue to monitor industry trends in global capital markets, translate these trends into new products and services, and be actively involved in shaping these trends. The ultimate goal of the strategic positioning is to provide excellent services for all customers: Deutsche Börse Group serves as partner for its customers in capital markets globally, offering innovative services of the highest quality. Management will continue to view IT and IT standards as key to further enhancing the global exchange infrastructure. The focus on customer benefits forms the basis for Deutsche Börse to continue to generate value for its shareholders.

The Capital Management Program approved by the Executive and Supervisory Boards will continue as planned The Company intends to distribute around €1.5 billion to shareholders by the end of May 2007, including some €800 million in 2005. The distribution of funds is anticipated to occur through an increase in the company's dividend payout ratio to at least 50 percent complemented by an ongoing share buy back program.

Deutsche Börse Group is open to co-operations and other links to exchange organizations in all appropriate formats – in a national and an international context – when in the best interests of its customers and shareholders. Deutsche Börse seeks open and intensive dialog on this subject with all suitable partners. The Group will also continue a systematic dialog with regulatory authorities and the European Commission, and supports structural improvement measures for European capital markets.

Deutsche Börse also announced that the register court (Registergericht) in Frankfurt/Main has appointed the following new members to the Supervisory Board of Deutsche Börse at the proposal of the Supervisory Board: Richard Berliand, Craig Heimark, Hermann-Josef Lamberti, and Dr. Erhard Schipporeit. Four seats were vacated by the resignations of Rolf Breuer, Mehmet Dalman, Dr. Stefan Jentzsch, and Hessel Lindenbergh.

Following changes in the composition of the Supervisory Board some of the Board’s committees have changed: Viermetz is the new Chairman of the Personnel Comittee where Richard Hayden replaces Udo Behrenwaldt. The Strategy Committee with Viermetz as Chairman includes Richard Hayden, Friedrich Merz und Gerhard Roggemann. In the Audit and Finance Committee now chaired by Dr. Manfred Gentz, Schipporeit replaces Jentzsch. Lamberti was elected Chairman of the Clearing and Settlement Comittee with Richard Berliand also serving on that comittee. In the Technology Committee Heimark replaces Jentzsch.

New CEO Francioni has a long standing and broad experience in the banking and exchange sector. The law graduate comes from the SWX Swiss Exchange, where he was Chairman of the Board of Directors from April 2002 to September 2005. Francioni was a member of the Executive Board of Deutsche Börse from April 1993 to March 2000, most recently as the Board's Deputy Chairman. In addition he worked for Schweizerische Bankgesellschaft (1981–1985), Schweizerische Kreditanstalt (1986–1988), and was CEO of Consors (2000–2002).

Francioni also acted as Deputy Chairman of the management at Association Tripartite Bourses (1988 – 1992), and was member of the lead team for the entire EBS (Elektronische Börse Schweiz) project there. Prior to his first move to Deutsche Börse, he was a member of management in the corporate finance division at Hofmann-La Roche (1992 – 1993).

Francioni is married and has two children.