Memorandum Of Understanding

A memorandum Of understanding (MOU) is an agreement between two parties and is often the same as a letter of intent. Many financial industry exchanges have signed MOUs with other exchanges in an effort to position themselves for a more global environment. These agreements between exchanges provide the opportunity to develop products that will benefit market users and enhance resources to educate individuals on the specific services of each exchange. Non-exchange MOUs have been agreed upon for the sharing of information and partnership opportunities.

Exchange MOUs

CME Group

• CME and Osaka Securities Exchange signed an MOU on Sept. 3, 2008.

CBOE

• CBOE and Taiwan Futures Exchange entered into a memorandum of understanding on Sept. 6, 2007.

ISE

• The International Securities Exchange signed a memorandum with the Osaka Securities Exchange on Feb. 24, 2008 to establish a relationship and take the first step toward coordinating efforts for the launch of a new, jointly owned trading platform.

NASDAQ

• NASDAQ and the Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange signed an MOU on Nov. 26, 2007 to formalize a relationship between the two markets.

Regulatory MOUs

• The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission signed a memorandum of understanding on March 11, 2008 to coordinate their efforts in areas of common regulatory interest in order to foster market innovation, fair competition and to promote efficiency in regulatory oversight.

• The Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission and the Bank of England signed a memorandum of understanding,on Oct. 28, 1997 to set forth a cooperative approach to sharing supervisory information. It is the first formal agreement among US and UK Securities, futures and banking regulators. The MOU was signed by SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt, CFTC Commissioner Barbara Holum, the Bank of England Governor, Eddie George and by Howard Davies who is the Chairman of the UK's Financial Services Authority.

• The Securities and Exchange Commission and the College of Euronext Regulators, which includes; The Netherlands, France, Belgium, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States, entered a memorandum of understanding, in January of 2007, when Euronext combined with the New York Stock Exchange in order to create the new group, NYSE Euronext. The MOU expresses each parties willingness to cooperate with each other in the interest in fulfulling their respective regulatory mandates particulary in the area of investor confidence and systemic stability.

Broker/Dealer MOUs

• Reliance Money, the largestbrokerage house in India, signed a memorandum of understanding with OptionsXpress to provide access, custody and execution services for their customers looking to trade in the U.S. markets.