The purpose of the agreement is to foster prosperity in Brazil’s financial markets as well as those markets covered by the Euroclear group (Belgium, France, Ireland, The Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the international markets served by Euroclear Bank). Euroclear and CBLC aim to ease cross-border investment as well as explore opportunities for co-operation in clearing and settlement operations.

The MoU encompasses the following initiatives:

- cross-entity training programmes.
- exchange of data for the improvement of clearing and settlement systems, such as statistics, market updates and business operating models.
- regular meetings between senior management to increase mutual understanding of business developments.
- joint studies on topics related to securities clearing and settlement operations.

The business relationship between CBLC and Euroclear started long ago, and includes CBLC’s account account at Euroclear ICSD where CBLC has efficiently accepted securities as collateral from international customers for almost 10 years.

Gilberto Mifano, Chief Executive Officer of CBLC, commented: “We are pleased to have signed this MoU with Euroclear. We trust this agreement will play an important role in further developing operational efficiency in Brazil, particularly in view of the pending merger of Brazil's BM&F SA, the local commodities and futures exchange, and BOVESPA Holding SA, the publicly traded company that owns and manages the Brazilian Stock Exchange, as well as the growing appeal of Brazilian securities to foreign investors.”

Pierre Francotte, Chief Executive Officer of Euroclear SA/NV, said: “We look forward to working more closely with CBLC as a highly valued partner in South America. We intend to continue to reinforce our relationship with infrastructure service providers in the region, where Euroclear has been serving clients for ten years through our São Paulo office.”

About CBLC

The Brazilian Clearing and Depository Corporation (CBLC) is a subsidiary of the Bovespa Holding Group. CBLC is the Central Securities Depository (CSD) for equities, corporate bonds and mortgage backed securities with responsibility for the safekeeping of over 2.1 trillion securities with a total value of approximately USD 634.6 billion. CBLC also provides Securities Settlement Services (SSS) and Central Counterparty Services (CCP) for equities (cash and derivatives), corporate debt instruments as well as the securities lending service, clearing and settling an average daily volume of USD 2.9 billion relating to more than 153,400 trades, and with a peak volume of USD 10.4 billion and more than 288,400 trades reached in August, 2007.

CBLC is a self-regulatory organization with USD 250.8 million in net capital and a company, very much aligned with international standards and trends, working continuously with the market participants and the Brazilian authorities in order to provide domestic and international investors with a state-of-the-art infrastructure. For more information on CBLC, visit www.cblc.com.br.

About Euroclear

Euroclear is the world's largest provider of domestic and cross-border settlement and related services for bond, equity, derivatives and fund transactions. User owned and user governed, the Euroclear group comprises the international central securities depository (CSD) Euroclear Bank, based in Brussels, as well as national CSDs Euroclear Belgium, Euroclear France, Euroclear Nederland and Euroclear UK & Ireland. Euroclear also owns EMXCo, the UK’s leading provider of investment-fund order routing.

The total value of securities transactions settled by the Euroclear group is in excess of EUR 560 trillion per annum, while assets held for clients are valued at more than EUR 19 trillion. Euroclear Bank is rated AA+ by Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings. For more information, please consult www.euroclear.com.