NASDAQ OMX Group (NDAQ)

The implementation of MiFID increases competition for quoting, trade execution and reporting revenues in Europe.

Our competitive position could be adversely affected by legislation and regulation implementing MiFID, which required all European Union countries to have MiFID regulation in force by November 1, 2007. MiFID is intended to create a unified European financial services market, with common regulation regarding investments and trading in European Union countries. MiFID enables greater transparency and competition among exchanges (regulated markets), investment firms and banks that internalize their order flow (systematic internalizers), and multilateral trading facilities. MiFID encourages competition for quotation, trade execution, trade reporting and market data distribution and introduces a European-wide requirement for best execution by requiring investment firms to establish and publish execution policies for all traded instruments.

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MiFID provides that trades may be executed on regulated markets, on multilateral trading facilities via over-the-counter trading or through systematic internalization. As a result, MiFID creates an opportunity for exchanges, new multilateral trading facilities, over-the-counter and internalization arrangements to be developed on either a single country or a pan-European basis, thereby removing entry barriers and facilitating entry of alternative off-exchange trading facilities and increasing the attractiveness of such alternative facilities to users. In addition, investment firms will have to ensure that they obtain the “best execution” conditions for their clients, and will therefore have to direct orders to the most favorable execution venue, without any regulatory incentive to favor established regulated markets.

Taken together, these changes to the regulatory environment are making it easier for multilateral trading facilities to establish themselves in Europe as low-cost alternatives to regulated exchanges, thereby increasing the level of competition with and between market operators. The exchanges comprising NASDAQ OMX Nordic and NASDAQ OMX Baltic face competition from other exchanges as well as from multilateral trading facilities and alternative trading systems, and this competition may intensify in the near future especially as technological advances create pressure to reduce the costs of trading. Increased competition from alternative trading facilities and operators could cause us to lose market share or to lower our fees in order to remain competitive, either of which could lead to lower revenues and/or lower margins, harming profitability.

The implementation of MiFID increases competition for quoting, trade execution and reporting revenues in Europe.

Our competitive position could be adversely affected by legislation and regulation implementing MiFID, which required all European Union countries to have MiFID regulation in force by November 1, 2007. MiFID is intended to create a unified European financial services market, with common regulation regarding investments and trading in European Union countries. MiFID enables greater transparency and competition among exchanges (regulated markets), investment firms and banks that internalize their order flow (systematic internalizers), and multilateral trading facilities. MiFID encourages competition for quotation, trade execution, trade reporting and market data distribution and introduces a European-wide requirement for best execution by requiring investment firms to establish and publish execution policies for all traded instruments.

MiFID provides that trades may be executed on recognized exchanges, on multilateral trading facilities via over-the-counter trading or through systematic internalization. As a result, MiFID creates an opportunity for exchanges, new multilateral trading facilities, over-the-counter and internalization arrangements to be developed on either a single country or a pan-European basis, thereby removing entry barriers and facilitating entry of alternative off-exchange trading facilities and increasing the attractiveness of such alternative facilities to users. In addition, investment firms will have to ensure that they obtain the “best execution” conditions for their clients, and will therefore have to direct orders to the most favorable execution venue, without any regulatory incentive to favor established regulated markets.

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Taken together, these changes to the regulatory environment are making it easier for multilateral trading facilities to establish themselves in Europe as low-cost alternatives to regulated exchanges, thereby increasing the level of competition with and between market operators. The Nordic Exchange faces competition from other exchanges as well as from multilateral trading facilities and alternative trading systems (including a move toward greater systematic internalization by member firms outside the Nordic Exchange) and this competition may intensify in the near future especially as technological advances create pressure to reduce the costs of trading. Increased competition from alternative trading facilities and operators could cause us to lose market share or to lower our fees in order to remain competitive, either of which could lead to lower revenues and/or lower margins, harming profitability.