Foreign European market: Austria

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Foreign European market: Austria

Readers Guide:

1. Austria’s general market features 2. Austria’s customer characteristics 3. Austria’s already entered market

Market size:

Austrian market

Dutch market

Habitants (in million) 8,3 16,4

Investing households (in million)

N.A. but 32% of all savers invested in stock, mutual funds and/or certificates and 28% of the financial assets of Austrian private households is invested in securities (June 2006)

1,36 (8,29%)

Trades (in million) Not made public but all discount brokers together performed an estimated 1,4 mil trades

34

Annually average amount of trades per investor

The Austrian investor is long term oriented

25 Market for independent

financial service providers

1,6 bill (estimated to grow with 14% a year)

N.A. Investors are in the

possession of:

Austrian investors seems particularly be interested in certificates 54% stock 75% investment funds 15% options 16% obligations Percentage of habitants that

conducts banking business online

43% 68%

Amount of investors that make actively use of an online broker

112.000

(1,35% of all habitants)

250.000

(1,52% of all habitants) Estimated Growth rate of the

online brokerage market

12% 14%

Competitors:

 Six discount brokers active: Directanlage (DAB) as undisputed leader (70% market share of discount brokers)

 Directanlage en Brokerjet are the best performing discount brokers based on independent information sites

Prices & Services:

 Highest interest rate offered on the market is 4,33%. Not offered by brokers but by foreign direct banks

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1. General market features

1

:

 Number of habitants 2007: 8,298,900  Number of investors: N.A.

 Investors/ habitants 2007: N.A.

 Beginning of 2007 the total value of Austria’s deposit value was ca.

€

140 billion (approx.

€

17.000 per habitant)

 32% of all savers invested in stock, mutual funds and/or certificates (2006)

 28% of the financial assets of Austrian private households is invested in securities (June 2006)

 Customers that made use of an online broker in 2007: 112.000 (growth rate 12% a year)  Market share of independent service providers in billion in 2007:

€

1,71 billion

1.1 Amount of trades in Austria:

 Of all the stock trades in Austria, 60% is represented by the Vienna stock exchange with the balance traded over the counter

 Amount of trades on Vienna stock exchange is not made public.

 All discount brokers together performed an estimated 1,4 mil trades for customers  Total stock options 2007: 1.036.975

 Total stock futures 2007: 8.760 Future1:

 Customers that make actively use of online brokers in millions is estimated to grow with 12% a year (160.000 in 2010)

 Market for independent financial service providers in billion is estimated to grow with 14% a year (2,5 bill. In 2010)

1.2 Internet usage in Austria2_:

 Population that made use of the Internet in 2007: 5,8 million (69,4%)

 Number of broadband connections per habitants (2007): 1,543,518 million (1 par 5,2 habitants)

 Habitants that purchased products/ services by making use of the Internet in 2007: 2,99 million (35,8%)

 43% of all habitants between 16-64 prefers to do their banking business online  The amount of households with Internet access is growing with 6 % annually

1.3 Austria’s economical development

 Economic growth rate in real GDP 2007: 3,4%  Expectations for growth in real GDP 2008: 2,1%

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2. Customer characteristics:

2.1 Investment motives1_:

 Main motives for stock purchase are long-term investment and pension provisions. Only 13% of all investors is interested in short-term investments

2.2 Investors preferences1_:

 60% of all retail investors capital is invested in Austria

 Austrian investors seems particularly be interested in certificates2

1_{www.wienerborse.at}_{. Figures are from med. 2006}

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3. Existing market penetration:

Organizations that offer brokerage activities:

Name: Website: Amount of customers:

Bankdirekt www.bankdirekt.at 60.000 (2006)

DAB (Direktanlage.at) www.dab.at 51.000 (2007) Generali bank www.Generalibank.at 35.000 (2006)

Brokerjet www.brokerjet.at 17.014 (2206)

Easybank www.easybank.at N.A.

Boerse-live www.boerse-live.at N.A.

Direct banks on Austrian Market1_:

Name: Website: Amount of customers1_:

Auto Bank www.autobank.at 28.000

Bankdirekt www.bankdirekt.at 60.000

Easybank www.easybank.at 150.000

Direktanlage (DAB) www.dab.at 40.000

Generali Bank www.generalibank.at 35.000

ING-Diba www.ing-diba.at 349.200

Market share of discount brokers at the end of 2007

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Directanlage (DAB):

Part of:

 DAB bank group. Active in Germany and Austria Notes:

 Undisputed market leader in Austria (market share above 70% in brokerage)  Works under name: Directanlage.at

 Offers brokerage, advice and wealth management (Dr. Jens Ehrhardt Kapital AG) DAB Austria:

Generali Bank

Active in:  Austria Service:

 Savings, mortage’s, brokerage, insurances and portfolio management Notes:

 Founded in 2002 (end 2006 break even was not achieved yet)

Generali Bank:

1_{Shares 50%; Certificates 22,6%; Funds 17,6%; Options 10,4 %;}

2007 2006

1,74

Executed orders in million1 _1,125 _0,86

 Executed orders for BtoC unit 0,94 0,74

Average order activity per custody account

24,12 21,9

Cost/ income ratio 56,8 65,1

Employees 116 115

2007 2006

Net profit in million Euro N.A. -

Total customers N.A. 35.000

Bankdirekt:

 Savings and brokerage Notes:

 Does not make any figures public  Total customers in 2006: 60.000

Brokerjet

Active in:

 Austria and Czech Republic Service:

 Brokerage Notes:

 Founded in 2002

 Part of der Erste Bank Gruppe

Brokerjet: Boerse-live.at Active in:  Austria Service:  Brokerage Notes:

 Part of the Raiffeisenbankengruppe Oberösterreich  Does not make any figures public

Easybank

 Saving accounts, payment accounts, credit cards and brokerage Notes:

 Does not make any figures public

2007 2006

Net profit in million Euro N.A. N.A.

Total customers N.A. N.A.

Custody account as of 31.12 N.A. 17.014

Total Assets under custody in million

807  Assets under custody BtoC N.A. N.A.

 Saving accounts N.A. N.A.

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3.2 Offered interest on market: Results:

LiveBank. at

EthikBank DenizBank Allianz Easybank

Offered Interest 4,33% 4,25% 4,1% 4,00% 3,8% Times of Interest pay-ment a year. 1 ₄ ₁ ₁ ₁

3.3 Prices on the market:

 Not a standard pricing model on the market

 Organizations in Germany offer multi channel sales possibilities but every other channel than Internet is additionally charged (between

€

5, - and 15, -)

Bank-direkt

Direktanlage (DAB)

Brokerjet Easybank Boerse-live Generali Bank Depot Fixed costs1: € 16, - € 18, - € 14, - € 14,16 None None Depot Fee

0,12% p.a. 0,12% p.a. 0,12% p.a. 0,12% p.a. 0,24% p.a. 0,192%p.a.

Addition al costs if order gets partially filled No No No No No Yes

1_{These fixed costs are not always charged. This depends on activity, deposit value or participation}

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Commission paid by consumer with 25 transactions a year1_: € 0,00 € 20,00 € 40,00 € 60,00 € 80,00 € 100,00 € 120,00

order of 0.00 order of 5.000 order of 10.000 order of 25.000 order of 50.000

BinckBanck Bankdirekt DAB Direktanlage Generali Bank

Easybank Brokerjet Boerse-Live

Pricing model: Binck-Bank France (Euronext and Eurex) Boerse-live.at Brokerjet Bankdirekt Vienna stock exchange

Direktanlage Easybank Generali Bank Local trades Fixed comission € 3,00 + till 20.000: 0,25%, 20.001 - 35.000: 0,20%, > € 35.001: 0,15% (mind. € 17,00): Till 3.500: € 9,95 3.501 - 10.000: Euro 16,45, 10.001 - 20.000: Euro 32,90, 20.001 - 30.000: Euro 47,90, 30.001: EUR 62,90 plus 0,03% > € 40.000 € 1,50 + € 9,95 + till 20.000: 0,195%, 20.001 - 50.000: 0,155%, 50.001 - 100.000: 0,145%, >100.001: 0,125% € 7,95 Euro + till 2.500: 0,000%, 2.501 - 25.000: 0,225%, 25.001 - 50.000: 0,200%, 50.001 - 100.000: 0,175%, >100.001: 0,125% 0,2 % of value with minimum of € 14,00 0,2 % of value with minimum of € 18,00

1_{The comparison was made between the prices that Binck charges on the Dutch market for trades}

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Commission on transaction interval with a value of Euro 0,00- Euro 12.5001_: € 0,00 € 5,00 € 10,00 € 15,00 € 20,00 € 25,00 € 30,00 € 35,00 € 40,00 order of €0,00 order of €2.000 order of €4.000 order of €6.000 order of €8.000 order of €10.000 order of €12.500

BinckBanck Frankrijk Bandirekt DAB Direktanlage

Generali Bank Easybank Brokerjet

Boerse-Live

1_{The comparison was made between the prices that Binck charges on the French market for trades}

on Euronext and the prices that Austrian brokers charge for their trades on Vienna. The comparison is made between different products and its purpose is only to provide insight of the Austrian

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Binck-Bank France (Euronext and Eurex) Boerse-live.at Brokerjet Bankdirekt Vienna stock exchange

Direktanlage Easybank Generali Bank Other Stock markets 16,95 + a percentage that is different for every stock market. 0,00 % < EUR 2.500,-- 0,225 % < EUR 25.000,-- 0,20 % < EUR 50.000,-- 0,175 % < EUR 100.000,-- 0,125 % > EUR 100.000,-- + EUR 9,95 + fremde Spesen2 The prices of local trades + min 0,17% V.S. 16.95 Euro + 0,50 % till 50.000,00 0,10 % above 50.000,00 See “ Other stock makets” + 0,1% The prices of local trades + 0,75%Y

Canada See V.S. - The prices of

local trades + 0,75%Y

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BinckBanck Frankrijk

Boerse-live.at

Brokerjet Bankdirekt Direktanlage Easybank Generali Bank Order of

€

0,00

€

2,50

€ 20, -

€ 9,95

€ 11,45

_{€ 7,95}

_{€ 14, -}

_{€ 18,}

-Order of

€

2.000

€

€ 105,5

€ 65,90

€

96,95

€

107,95

€ 100, -

€ 100,

-3.4 Other market features: Information sites:

 www.optimal-banking.at  www.modern-banking.at

The information sites recommend their customers to make use of the services provided by Directanlage or Brokerjet. Which one is preferred is dependent on the type of investor and the amount of trades he or she performs.

Market restrictions

 A broker has the duty to perform administrative tasks for the tax collector’s office. The broker should deduct a percentage of the payment on an obligation before it is submitted to the customer.

In transactions with stock and derivates is the customer responsible for tax payments.  Vienna stock Exchange is built on the systems of Xetra. The Vienna stock exchange has

strong partnerships with foreign exchanges in Eastern- Europe. This could provide a portal to different growing economies.

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Foreign European market: Denmark

Readers Guide:

4. Denmark’s general market features 5. Denmark’s already entered market

Market size:

Danish market

Dutch market

Habitants in mill. 5,4 16,4

Investing households in mill. 1,5 million Danes own directly or indirectly via mutual funds listed shares. 600.000 Danes have invested more than

€

7.000 in shares

1,36 (8,29%)

Trades in mill. 12,4 34

Investors are in the possession of:

More then 2.1 million Danes are using indirect shareholding to save for their old age. This amount is increasing with approximately 9% a year 54% stock 75% investment funds 15% options 16% obligations

Habitants that conducts online banking

56,4 68%

Amount of investors that at least once performed a trade by making use of the internet

N.A. 790.000

(58%)

More then 12.000 250.000

(18,4% of all investors)

 A lot of people are in the possession of shares but only a few are making use of Internet brokers

Competitors:

 There are three different organizations active on the market

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1.General market features

1

:

 Number of habitants in 2007: 5,4 million  Number of investors in 2007:

o 1,5 million Danes own directly or indirectly via mutual funds listed shares. o 600.000 Danes have invested more than

€

7.000 in shares 2

 Investors/ habitants 2007: 27,4%

1.2 Amount of trades in Denmark3_:

Denmark’s stock exchange is part of the OMX Nordic Exchange.

Total figures of the OMX Nordic Exchange in 2007: Share trading:

Total value of share trading (Bill. Euro)

€

1317,5 Total number of trades in shares 47,7 million

Derivative trading:

Total number of contracts 164,5 million

ETF/ Investment funds

ETF trading/ Investment funds total value (bill Euro)

€

49,5 Total number of trades 1,9 million Main figures of Denmark’s stock exchange:

Share trading:

Total value of share trading

(Billion Euro)

€

179,5 Total number of trades 8,2 million

Derivative trading:

Derivatives N.A.

ETF/ Investment funds

ETF trading/ Investment funds total value

(billion Euro)

€

36,9 billion Total number of trades 4,2 million

Total amount of trades without derivatives trading

12,4 million

 Number of customers that made use of online brokers in 2007: N.A. Future expectations:

 The Danish Shareholders Association stated in a fact sheet about the Danish market that direct shareholding looses market share to indirect shareholding. More then 2.1 million Danes are using indirect shareholding to save for their old age. This amount is increasing with approximately 9% a year2_.

1_{http://www.internetworldstats.com/europa.htm}

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1.3 Internet usage in Denmark1_:

 Population that makes use of the Internet (Nov. 2007): Internet penetration of 79%  Number of broadband connections per habitants (2007): 1,866,306 broadband subscribers

as of June/07 (34.1%)

 Habitants that are making use of Internet Banking2_{. 56,4%}

1.4 Denmark’s economical develpoment3

1_{http://www.internetworldstats.com/europa.htm}

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2. Existing market penetration:

All organizations that offer brokerage activities on the Danish market can be found in the following table:

Organization: Website: Customers:

Nordnet www.nordnet.dk 11.600

Saxo www.saxobank.dk N.A.

E*Trade www.etrade.dk N.A.

2.1 Analysis of market leaders

Nordnet

Active in:

 Norway, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Luxemburg and Denmark Services:

 Brokerage activities Notes:

 5,5% market share on the Danish market based on the amount of transactions made on the main stock exchange

Results Nordnet group:

Q1 2008 2007 2006

5,3

P/E ratio 2007 - 16,13 19,12

Trades (in millions) 2,89 9,402 8,003

5,23 Number of accounts 11.600 10.100 11.073 Assets under management

(in billion Euros)

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Saxobank

Active in:

 Denmark, Switzerland, UK, Singapore and Spain Services:

 Brokerage activities. They also offer professional services. Other organizations can become partners and make use of their trading platform. More then 100 other organizations are making use of this service.

Notes:

 Saxo does not make any figures public about the amount of clients or trades they perform.

Results Saxo group:

2007 2006

€

36.87

€

19.31 Assets under custody

(In billion Euros)

€

1,15

€

0,58 Return on shareholders

equity (after tax)

36,1% 37,5% Employees 1.011 622 E*Trade: Active in:  14 countries worldwide Services:  Brokerage Notes:

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 Commissions that are charged till

€

10.000, - are quite similar  The biggest players on the market are no longer competing on price

 BinckBank could offer her potential customers a great cost advantage with transactions above

€

10.000, -

Commission paid by consumer with 25 transactions a year1:

€ 0,00 € 10,00 € 20,00 € 30,00 € 40,00 € 50,00 € 60,00 € 70,00

order of €0,00 order of €5.000 order of €10.000 order of €25.000 order of €50.000

BinckBanck Frankrijk E*Trade Nordnet Saxo

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Most transactions fall between the interval of

€

0,00-

€

12,500. The next graph focuses at this interval.

Commission on transaction interval with a value of Euro 0,00- Euro 12.5001:

€ 0,00 € 2,00 € 4,00 € 6,00 € 8,00 € 10,00 € 12,00 € 14,00 € 16,00 € 18,00 order of €0,00 order of €2.000 order of €4.000 order of €6.000 order of €8.000 order of €10.000 order of €12.500

BinckBanck Frankrijk E*Trade Nordnet Saxo

Pricing model:

BinckBank France

(Euronext and Eurex)

E*Trade Nordnet Saxo

Local trades Fixed commission 0,125% Min € 3,89 0,1% Min € 3,89 0,1% Min € 2.55

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Price comparison for prices that are charged for the most active clients: € 0,00 € 5,00 € 10,00 € 15,00 € 20,00 € 25,00 € 30,00 € 35,00 € 40,00 € 45,00 € 50,00

BinckBanck Frankrijk E*Trade Platin Nordnet Pro Saxo

These prices are charged if a customer fulfills the following conditions:

BinckBank E*Trade Platin Nordnet Pro Saxo

Pricing model for the most active clients

Has one pricing model for all her customers 0,045% with min. of € 3,89 0,045% with min. of € 3,89

Has one pricing model for all her customers

Conditions - More then 40

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Commission on transactions in figures: BinckBanck Frankrijk E*Trade (Basis) E*Trade Platin Nordnet Nordnet Pro Saxo Order of €0,00 € 2,50 € 3.89 € 3.89 € 3.89 € 3.89 € 2,55 Order of €2.000 € 5, - € 3.89 € 3.89 € 3.89 € 3.89 € 2,55 Order of €4.000 € 5, - € 5, - € 3.89 € 4, - € 3.89 € 4, - Order of €6.000 € 7,50 € 7,50 € 3.89 € 6, - € 3.89 € 6, - Order of €8.000 € 10, - € 10, - € 3.89 € 8, - € 3.89 € 8, - Order of €10.000 € 10, - € 12,5 € 4,50 € 10, - € 4,50 € 10, - Order of €12.500 € 12,50 € 15,62 € 5.63 € 12,50 € 5.63 € 12,50 Order of €25.000 € 12,50 € 31,24 € 11.25 € 25, - € 11.25 € 25, - Order of €50.000 € 12,50 € 62,51 € 22.50 € 50, - € 22.50 € 50, - E*Trade (Basis) E*Trade Platin Nordnet Nordnet Pro Saxo Fixed costs:

None None None None None

Depot Fee None None None None None

V.S. 0,15% min $ 11, - 0,1% min $ 11, - 0,15% min $ 13, - 0,1% min $ 11, - 0,1% min $ 15, - Canada - - 0,27% min 40 CAD 0,27% min 40 CAD -

3.4 Other market features Information sites:

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Foreign European market: England

Readers Guide:

6. England’s general market features 7. England’s customers characteristics 8. England’s already entered market

Market size:

The English market Dutch market

N.A. 1,36 (8,29%)

Trades (in million) 81,5 34

Trades per investor N.A. 25

Investors are in the possession of: 16% Individual stock/ shares 12% Investment funds 10% Bonds 54% stock 75% investment funds 15% options 16% obligations Habitants that conducts

online banking

66% 68%

N.A. 790.000

(58%)

N.A. 250.000

Competitors:

 Most organizations are part of a traditional retail bank

 Barclays stockbroker is the market leader for retail brokerage activities

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1.General market features:

 Number of habitants 2007: 60,776,238

 Type and amount of investors in 20071: The following data is based on the results of the European Online Financial Services Survey Q4 2007:

Habitants of England that are in the possession of:

England: Europe: Netherlands:

Individual stock/ share 16% 15% 10%

Investment funds 12% 16% 9%

Bonds 10% 6% 3%

 Investors/ habitants 2007: N.A.

1.2 Amount of trades in England2:

 Number of trades in 2007 on all England’s stock exchanges: 81,5  Number of customers in 2007 that make use of online brokers:

1.5 Internet usage in England3:

 Population that makes use of the Internet (Nov. 2007): 40,362,842 Internet users in Nov/07, 66.4 %

 Number of broadband connections per habitants (2007): 14,361,816 broadband subscribers as of June/07 (23.6%)

 Habitants that are making use of Internet Banking. 66%

1.6 England’s economical development

1_{Forrester: European consumer technogarphics Q4 2007}

2

http://www.londonstockexchange.com/NR/rdonlyres/40E907BA-AA48-4FF2-9411-0212FCA43AC9/0/SecondaryMarketFactsheet0805.xls

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2. Customers characteristics:

In this part the needs and characteristics of the English customers will be further analyzed. The following data is based on a European techno graphics financial services survey, conducted by Forrester. Note that results are based on samples and should be used as an indication. Based on the data of Forrester the following conclusions can be made:

 England’s investors are not in the passion of any remarkable characteristics. All figures are comparable with those of Europe’s.

 The group of investors that has their assets under custody at a traditional stockbroker is slightly bigger then those that use an internet broker

These conclusions where based on the following tables

Habitants of England that are in the possession of:

England: Europe:

Individual stock/ share 16% 15%

Investment funds 12% 16%

Bonds 10% 6%

Habitants of England that bought in the last 12 months:

Individual stock/ share 3% 5%

Investment funds 2% 5%

Bonds 3% 2%

All online English investors, who have more then € 5.000, - in investments, put their investments in custody at:

My main bank 58% 72%

A building society 55% 22%

A direct or Internet bank 24% 22%

Another bank 18% 18%

Traditional stockbroker 9% 5%

Online stockbroker 8% 7%

Private bank 2% 3%

Fund management company 22% 20%

An insurance company 20% 19%

Other 15% 8%

None of these 1% 1%

My main bank is by all habitants:

Abbey 6%

Alliance & Leicester 4%

Bank of Scotland 2%

Barclays Bank 14%

The Co-operative Bank 2%

First Direct 2%

Halifax 9%

HSBC Bank 11%

Lloyds TSB 15%

Nationwide Building Society 7%

NatWest 12%

Royal Bank of Scotland 6%

Smile 1%

Yorkshire Bank/Clydesdale Bank 2%

Another bank not on this list 3%

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Financial companies where online investors in England have a relationship with: The AA 10% AXA 14% Barclaycard 21% Barclays Stockbrokers 4% Cahoot 3% Direct Line 8% Egg 11% GE Money 6% ING Direct 8%

Legal & General 13%

Lloyds TSB Insurance 11%

Marks & Spencer Money 10%

MBNA 14%

National Savings & Investments 23%

Norwich Union 17% RAC 6% Sainsbury's Bank 8% Smile 2% Standard Life 13% TD Waterhouse 1%

Tesco Personal Finance 11%

Virgin Money 4%

None of these 21%

3. Existing market penetration:

Organizations that offer brokerage activities on the English market can be found in the following table:

Boursorama (selftrade.co.uk) www.selftrade.co.uk

E trade UK www.etrade.co.uk

Barclays stockbrokers www.stockbrokers.barclays.co.uk

HSBC www.hsbc.co.uk

TD waterhouse www.tdwaterhouse.co.uk

RBS Direct share trading www.rbs-sharedealing.co.uk

Lloyds TSB www.lloydstsbsharedealing.com

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3.1 Analysis of market leaders

Selftrade ( Boursorama):

Active in:

 France, Germany, United Kingdom and Spain Service:

 Brokerage activities and pension savings Notes:

 After France, this is Boursorama’s biggest market Boursorama group:

2007 2006

Total customers with a 578.777 531.831

Customers with custody account 360.000 330.600

Executed orders 6.798.021 6.610.278

BtoC executed orders 6.175.878 5.685.538

Total assets under custody in billion Euro 13,15 12.2 Assets under custody from custody accounts in

billion Euro

6,19 5,80

Boursorama United Kingdom:

2007 2006

Accounts N.A. 175.300

Performed transactions N.A. 1.700.000

Average security portfolio in Euros N.A. 18.000

E*Trade

Active:

 On 12 international markets Services:

 Online brokerage activities Notes:

 4 Million customers worldwide  More than $80 billion in client assets

Barclays Stockbrokers

Active:

 England Services:

 This is the brokerage department of the Barclays bank Group Notes:

 Barclays Stockbrokers is the UK's number one retail stockbroker

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HSBC

Active:

 England, Brazil, Mexico, France, Hong Kong and the United States Services:

 Savings, Investments, credit cards, loans, mortgages and insurances Notes:

RBS share dealing

Active:

 England, Brazil, Mexico, France, Hong Kong and the United States Services:

 Savings, Investments, credit cards, loans, mortgages and insurances Notes:

 Part of the Royal bank of scotland

TD Waterhouse

Active:

 All over the world Services:

 Brokerage activities and saving accounts Notes:

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3.2 Offered interest on market:

In this part of the research we compare different saving accounts offered on the English market. The first table contains information about the offered interest rates in general. The second table contains the offered interest rates by brokers.

In England there are many different types of accounts. The following comparison is based on the following assumptions:

 All the following accounts are internet accounts

 Some interest rates include a bonus part. This is noted in fourth row

 The following accounts are easy-access- accounts. This means that a client is able to fulfill withdrawals in e few days without penalties

 All offered interest rates are variable rates Results:

Offered interest by brokers:

6.000 

Commission on transactions based on the normal commission prices1_:

€ 0,00 € 2,00 € 4,00 € 6,00 € 8,00 € 10,00 € 12,00 € 14,00 € 16,00 € 18,00 € 20,00 order of €0,00 order of €2.000 order of €4.000 order of €6.000 order of €8.000 order of €10.000 order of €12.500

BinckBanck Frankrijk TD Waterhouse

Interactive Investors Lloyds Share dealing

HSBC Barclays Stockbrockers

E*Trade Selftrade

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Commission paid by on the assumption gets the frequent trader discount1_: € 0,00 € 2,00 € 4,00 € 6,00 € 8,00 € 10,00 € 12,00 € 14,00 € 16,00 € 18,00 € 20,00

BinckBanck Frankrijk TD Waterhouse

Interactive Investors Lloyds Share dealing

HSBC Barclays Stockbrockers

E*Trade Selftrade

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Binck France (Euronext and Eurex) TD Water-house HSBC Barclays stockbro-kers Self-trade Inter active Investors E* Trade Lloyds Share dealing Local trades Fixed commissio n Flat rate of € 15,83 Till transactio ns of € 126.638, - € 15,13 € 15,20 € 15,83 € 12,66 € 11,33 € 19 Freque nt trader prices € 12,60 Flat rate Till transactio ns of € 126.638, - € 8,8 Between 6-10 monthly transaction s € 9,50 More then 11 transaction s € 8,80 € 7,60 - € 8,80 € 14,56

Commission on transactions in figures:

(31)

TD water-house

HSBC Barclays Self trade Inter-active investors E trade V.S. Flat rate of € 15.79 Till transactions of € 126334.4 € 15.1 Min. € 56,85 (US) First € 12633 1.75% Next € 12633 1.125% Next € 25266 0.50% Next € 75800 0.40% Thereafter 0.30% € 15.79 € 18.95 € 11.31

Canada Flat rate of € 15.79 Till

transactions of

€ 126334.4

N.A. N.A. € 15.79 N.A. € 11.31

TD waterhouse HSBC Barclay’s Selftra de Interactiv e Traders E Trade Lloyds Share dealing Fixed costs:

None None None None € 32, -

p.a. Costs additional channels Tel: Min. € 25.27 Tel: Min. € 18.95 Tel: Min. € 22.11 Min. € 18.95 Tel: € 25.27 € 18.89 Tel: Min. € 22.11

Depot Fee None None None 0,1%

(32)

3.5 Information sites:

The following information sites where found on the English market:

Ciao.co.uk

MoneyExpert.com

Find.co.uk

Moneyfacts.co.uk

Fool.co.uk

Moneyxtra.com

GoCompare.com

PeoplesChampion.com

Guardian Unlimited Money

This Is Money

Interactive investor

Revieuwcentre.co.uk

In general, these information site rate the different Internet brokers as follow: Notes:

 This information is based on reviews on the internet and should not be considered as reliable

HSBC: Customers are very positive about the service as well as the website. The possibility to

accept an acceptable interest rate on the amount of money that is not invested is appreciated as well.

Selftrade: Customers are positive. They believe Selftrade charges their customers fair prices and

are easy to communicate with. Not the most innovative organization

TD waterhouse: There is not a general opinion. Customers are either quite positive or extremely

negative. They seem to have some reliability problems with the site.

Barclays: Poor performance. Lost a lot of clients during the last years. Customers are unable to

communicate with Barclays.

Interactive Investors: The website is making use of a double login mode. Customers believe this

(33)

Foreign European market: Finland

Readers Guide:

9. Finland’s general market features 10. Finland’s customers characteristics 11. Finland’s already entered market

Market size:

Finnish market

Dutch market

1,5 million people are saving in share and/ or mutual funds

1,36 (8,29%)

Trades (in million) 14,5 34

Trades per investor N.A. 25

Investors are in the possession of:

Current account 22% Savings, investment or other account 25% Mutual funds 17% Listed shares 12% Bonds 2% Endowment insurance 6% Personal pension insurance 9%

Stock 54%

Investment funds 75% Options 15%

Obligations 16%

Habitants that conducts online banking

68% 68%

N.A. 790.000

(58%)

N.A. 250.000

Competitors:

 There are two real Internet brokers active on the market.

 Competitors use different pricing models. These models are based on paid commission in the previous period

 Nordnet is the cheapest Internet broker on the market. Their prices are slightly higher then BinckBank’s

 EQ online is the fastest growing broker and offers the most extensive service package

(34)

1.General market features:

 Habitants 2007: 5,238,460 population1

 Investors 2007: 1,5 million people are saving in share and/or mutual funds2  Investors/ habitants 2007: 28,6%

1.2 Trades in Finland3_:

Trades in 2007 on the Helsinki stock exchanges: Trades in 2007:

Shares (incl OTC) 14.093.470

Equity rights & equity warrants 60.574

Index shares 2.365

Covered warrants 428.509

Total number of trades 14.584.914

 Number of customers in 2007 that are making use of online brokers: N.A.

1.7 Internet usage in Finland:

 Population that makes use of the Internet (Nov. 2007): 3,286,000 Internet users as of 79% penetration

 Number of broadband connections per habitants (2007): 1,518,900 broadband subscribers as of June/07 (29.0%)

 Habitants that are making use of Internet Banking4: From all habitants 68 % are making use of Internet banking services

1.8 Finland’s economical development5

1_{http://www.internetworldstats.com/eu/de.htm} 2_{Presentation annual results Nordnet 2007} 3_{http://www.omxnordicexchange.com} 4_{http://www.stat.fi}

(35)

3. Customers characteristics:

The following tables are based on a market research conducted by the federation of Finnish financial Services. Note that the results are based on a sample of the population.

In the spring of 2007 53% of the respondents that represents the habitants of Finland, said that they where currently in the possession of savings or investments. These persons where asked which of the following they hold. The results are in the following table.

Which of the following do you hold:

Current account 22%

Savings, investment or other account 25%

Mutual funds 17%

Listed shares 12%

Bonds 2%

Endowment insurance 6%

Personal pension insurance 9%

For the coming twelve months 43% of the respondents answered they expect to buy the following:

Which of the following are you planning to buy in the next 12 months:

Current account 10%

Savings, investment or other account 16%

Mutual funds 13%

Listed shares 5%

Bonds 1%

Endowment insurance 1%

Personal pension insurance 5%

(36)

3. Existing market penetration:

All organizations that offer brokerage activities on the German market can be found in the following table:

Organisation: Website: Amount of accounts:

Nordnet www.Nordnet.fi 6.200

Nordea www.nordea.fi N.A.

EQ online www.eqonline.fi N.A.

Glitnir bank www.glitnir.se N.A.

3.1 Analysis of market leaders Nordnet Group:

Active in: Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Germany and Luxemburg Services:

 The services that are offered on a market differ per country. Notes:

 Listed on the Mid Cap Nordic Exchange Stockholm (value 2 juni, €1,79)

Results Nordnet Group

5,30

P/E ratio 2007 - 16,13 19,12

Trades (in millions) 2,89 9,402 8,003

Trades per active account 15 56,2 59,7

Average value per account

€

28.500

€

31.700

€

35.200

Employees 323 323 238

Nordnet Finland:

Services:

 Nordnet offers only brokerage services on this market Notes:

 Nordnet’s market share on the Helsinki stack exchange based on the amount of trades is 2,2%

Results Nordnet Finland

Q1 2008 Q1 2007 Year 2007

Profit before tax (in million Euros)

_€

-0,1

€

-0,28

€

-0,96

Accounts 6.200 3.000 5.097

Assets under management (in billion

Euros)

€

0,16

€

0,09

€

0,33

(37)

Nordea:

Active in:

 Entire Nordic, Baltic and east-European region Services:

 This is a traditional bank that offers all different kind of financial services Notes

 Largest financial services group in the Nordic region

EQ online:

Active in:  Finland Services:

 Specialized in investment services. These services can be divided in four different business units:

1. Brokerage services: this is divided into the EQ-online services and traditional people-to-people brokerage activities

2. Asset management services 3. Corporate finance services

4. Hosting services such as facility management and different IT security services Notes:

 Market share of 4,2% based on the number of trades on the OMX Helsinki  Independent part of the international Straumer Group

 According to the annual report of 2007 they are Finland’s fastest growing online broker

GlitnirBank

 Not a real Internet broker. They do offer brokerage services but only for institutional and day-traders. Individual price agreements are made when the account is opened.

Key figures eQ online 2007 2006

Net profit in million Euro 3.130 3.153

Total customers 9 million -

Assets under custody in Billion 157bn 158 Executed orders in million N.A. N.A.

Cost/ Income ratio 52% 53%

Return on equity 19,7 -

Earnings per share in Euro 1,20 1,21

Employees 31.721 29.248

Key figures EQ online 2007 2006

Net profit in million Euro

€

10,4

€

16,7

Total customers 53.000 46.200

Assets under custody in Billion 1,6 1,5 Executed orders in million N.A. N.A.

Cost/ Income ratio 0,7 0,6

Return on equity 14,4% 25,4%

Earnings per share in Euro

€

0,31

€

0,5

(38)

3.2 Offered interest on the Finnish market: Results:

 Almost all saving accounts are connected to the indexes

 The saving accounts without restrictions and any risk offer low interest rates

 According to Finland’s bureau of statistics the average interest rate on a account is 2,54%1

Nordnet Nordea EQ online GlitnirBank

Offered Interest

2,55% 2,1%-3,8% N.A. Offers only savings

(39)

Note:

 EQ online charges a lower commission for her customers if they have paid more then

€

100, - in the previous six months. In the following comparison the assumption is made that a customer performs annually 25 trades. Because of the 25 trades, we assume that the customer has paid more then

€

100, - in the previous six months. This influences the prices of EQ online.

Commission paid by consumer with 25 transactions a year1:

€ 0,00 € 10,00 € 20,00 € 30,00 € 40,00 € 50,00 € 60,00 € 70,00 € 80,00 € 90,00 € 100,00

BinckBanck Frankrijk Nordea Basic Nordea active

EQ online Nordnet Pricing model: BinckBank France (Euronext and Eurex) Nordnet Nordea Basic Nordea Active EQ online Local trades Fixed commission 0,1% with min € 9, - 0,25% with min € 10, - 0,2% with min € 8, - 0,15% + € 7,502

1 _{The comparison was made between the prices that Binck charges on the French market for trades}

on Euronext and the prices that Finnish brokers charge for their trades on the Helsinki stock exchange. The comparison is made between different products and its purpose is only to provide insight of the Finnish market.

2

(41)

(42)

Foreign European market: Germany

Readers Guide:

12. Germany’s general market features 13. Germany's customers characteristics 14. Germany's already entered market

Market size:

German market

Dutch market

10,32 (12,5%) 1,36 (8,29%) Trades (in million) 337

(53 % Xetra, 30,5 % Frankfurt, 17% others)

34

Trades per investor 32,7 25

Market for independent financial service providers

70 billion (Growth rate 14 % a year

N.A. Investors are in the

possession of: 39% stock 70% investment funds N.A. N.A. 54% stock 75% investment funds 15% options 16% obligations Online banking business (In

percentage of all habitants)

42% 68%

N.A. 790.000

(58%)

Investors with an online broker account

2.600.000

(25,2% of all investors) (Growth rate 8 % a year)

250.000

(18,4% of all investors) Estimated Growth rate of the

online brokerage market

5% 14%

Competitors:

 16 different organizations active on market

 Main parties: DAB, Cortal Consor, ING Diba and Comdirect. (Al banks not just brokers)  Complicated packages with hidden costs

 Operational difficulty: All German stock exchanges must be offered

 Interest of 3,8 percent without restrictions would be high on market but not unique or shocking (competitors offer high percentages on short term with a lot of conditions)

 Competitors do not offer the amount of access to foreign stock exchanges that Binck offers. If they do offer a broad range, the prices of some markets are high.

 Prices of BinckBank France would be very competitive Flatex is by far the cheapest organization (commission fee

€

5, - X amount of partially filled transactions)

 There is not one single pricing model on the market. Makes it complicated for consumer to compare

 Competitors offer different services for different prices

(43)

1.General market features

1

:

 Number of habitants 2007: 82.400.996

 Number of investors 2007: 10.317.000 (Possession of shares and or funds)  Investors/ habitants 2007: 12.5 % (Dutch market 8,3%)

1.1.1 Division of investors in Germany 20071:

Only in the possession of shares 2.370.000 22,97% Only in the possession of funds 5.577.000 54,1%

In the possession of both 1.677.000 16,3%

Total 10.317.000 100,0% 10.504.000 10.796.000 10.314.000 10.317.000 0 2.000.000 4.000.000 6.000.000 8.000.000 10.000.000 12.000.000 2004 2005 2006 2007 Shareholders

investment fund holder

together

1.2 Amount of trades in Germany2:

 Number of trades in 2007 on all German stock exchanges: 337 million (257,4 mil. in 2006)  Number of customers in 2007 that make use of online brokers: 2,6 million (2,4 mil. In

2006) Future:

 Customers that make actively use of online brokers in millions is estimated to grow with 8% a year (3,3 mil. In 2010)

 Market for independent financial service providers in billion is estimated to grow with 14% a year (118,2 bill. In 2010)

1.9 Internet usage in Germany3_:

 Population that makes use of the Internet (Nov. 2007): 53.240.115 (64,6%)

 Number of broadband connections per habitants (2007): 17.472.000 (1 par 5 habitants)  Habitants that are making use of Internet Banking3. 30.879.266 (37,5%)

1.10 Germany's economical develpoment4

 Economic growth rate in real GDP 2007: 2,5 %  Expectations for growth in real GDP 2008: 1,7%

1_{Infratest-Opinion poll by Deutsches Aktieninstitut} 2_{Annual report DAB bank group 2007}

(44)

4. Customers characteristics

1

:

In this part the needs and characteristics of German customers will be further revealed.

Germans with more than 5.000 Euro worth in savings (saving account and investments), put their money under custody at the following organizations:

My main bank 64%

A building society 30%

A direct or Internet bank 29%

Another bank 14%

Traditional stockbroker 2%

Online stockbroker 8%

Private bank 3%

Fund management company 22%

An insurance company 18%

Other 7%

None of these 1%

Note that most direct banks also offer brokerage activities. Organizations that started on this market as online brokers have developed themselves to Internet banks.

The organizations that kept the focus on online brokerage are now specialized brokers for day traders. An example is the organization Sino (only 600 customers with average of 10 transactions a day)

The group that is customer to online stockbrokers are day traders.

(45)

3. Existing market penetration:

The following organizations offer brokerage activities on the German market:

Organization: Website:

1822direkt www.1822direkt.com

Citibank www.Citibank.de

Comdirect www.comdirect.de

CortalConsors www.cortalconsor.de

DAB bank www.dab-bank.de

Daimler Chrysler Bank www.daimlerchrysler-bank.de

E*trade www.etrade.nl Fimatex www.fimatex.de Flatex www.flatex.de INGDiba www.ing-diba.de Maxblue www.maxblue.de Netbank www.netbank.de Postbank www.postbank.de Sino www.sino.de Sbroker www.sbroker.de Volkswagenbank www.volkswagenbank.de

Market share: number of securities accounts of leading online brokers in 20061

(46)

3.1 Analysis of market leaders ING-DiBa

Active in:

 Germany and Austria Service:

 Savings, consumer credits, mortage’s and brokerage. Notes:

 Biggest direct bank of Europe  Part of the Dutch ING- group

ING-Diba Group:

ING-Diba Germany

2007 2006

Net profit (million Euro)

_€

358

€

339

Total customers 6.481.280 6.004.672

Custody account as of 31.12 660.801 579.276 Assets under custody in Billion

_€

113,3

€

99,7

 Assets under custody BtoC unit in billion

€

12,94

€

11,048

Executed orders 6.234.668 4.508.863

Average order activity per custody account

9,4 7,78

Cost/ Income ratio 51% 56%

Earnings per share in Euro N.A N.A

P/E ratio N.A N.A

2007 2006

Custody account as of 31.12 N.A N.A Assets under custody in Billion N.A N.A Executed orders in million N.A N.A Average order activity per custody

account

(47)

Comdirect

Active in:

 Germany Service:

 Brokerage, banking and advice

The trades of Comdirect can be divided in the following percentages:

Employees 824 732

Trades by type of securities in % 2007

Equities 38.0 %

Warrants 10.5 %

Certificates 20.9 %

Funds 9.0 %

Securities savings plans 20.6 %

(48)

DAB bank group:

Active in:

 Germany and Austria Service:

 Focus on securities-related services. Other offered products are to support this Notes:

 Market leader in Germany  Germany’s first online broker

10,62 Executed orders in million 11,5 10,9

 Executed orders for BtoC unit 4,95 4,71 Average order activity per custody

account

10,8 11,3

Cost/ Income ratio 75,6 78,7

_€

0,34

€

0,29

P/E ratio 17,7 24,1

Employees 693 646

DAB Germany: 2007 2006

Net profit in million Euro - -

€

29,87

€

27,0

 Assets under custody BtoC unit

_€

9,65

€

8,76 Executed orders in million 10,4 10,0

 Executed orders for BtoC unit 4,02 3,6 Average order activity per custody

account

10,23 10,58

(49)

Cortal Consors

Active in:

 Germany, France, Spain, Belgium, Luxembourg and Italy Service:

 Provides customers with independent financial advice and with range of financial investments products.

Notes:

 Part of: BNP Paribas  Leader in Europe

 Recently started with B*capital in France. B*capital is a brokerage firm that offers each private investor a personal relationship with an investment professional.

Cortal Consor group (including B*capital):

2007 2006

Total customers N.A. 1.166.100

Custody account as of 31.12 N.A. N.A. Assets under custody in Billion N.A.

_€

33,8

 In stock

 Saving products and funds  Cash

N.A. 11,5 (34%) 15,9 (47%) 6,42 (19%) Executed orders in million N.A. 12,9

 Executed orders for BtoC unit N.A. N.A.

Employees N.A. 1500

Cortal Consor Germany: 2007 2006

Net profit in million Euro N.A. N.A.

Custody account as of 31.12 N.A. N.A. Assets under custody in Billion

_€

14,8

€

12,94

 Assets under custody BtoC unit N.A. N.A.

Executed orders in million 9 7,77

 Executed orders for BtoC unit N.A. N.A.

(50)

Fimatex (Boursorama)

Active in:

 France, Germany, United Kingdom and Spain Service:

 Provider of different kind of financial services. After the acquisition of Veritas, numerous long-term savings products are included.

Notes:

 42% percent of revenues come from brokerage activities (75% in 2003)

Boursorama group: 2007 2006

Customers with custody account 360.000 330.600 Executed orders 6.798.021 6.610.278 BtoC executed orders 6.175.878 5.685.538 Total assets under custody in billion

Euro

€

13,15

€

12.2 Assets under custody from custody

accounts in billion Euro

€

6,19

€

5,80 Boursorama Germany 2007 2006 Total Customers 91.389 103.400 Performed transactions 446,897 503.344 Flatex Active in:  Germany Service:

 Part of Flatex AG. Offers private banking and discount brokerage Notes:

 Launched organization in march 2006

(51)

3.2 Offered interest on market: Results:

 With 3,8%, Binck offers the highest interest on a continuous basis despite the amount of money

 Most deals have complicated restrictions. The products of BinckBanck would be unique in that sense

 Spectacular offers are made to attract customers

1822 direkt

Cortal Consor

comdirect DAB DKB ING

(52)

 There is not a standard pricing model on the market

 Flatex is the organization with the most disruptive pricing model (note that the assumption is made that the transactions are not partially filled)

 The prices charged by BinckBank France would be substantial lower

Commission paid by consumer with 25 transactions a year1_:

€ 0,00 € 10,00 € 20,00 € 30,00 € 40,00 € 50,00 € 60,00 € 70,00 € 80,00 € 90,00 € 100,00

BinckBanck Frankrijk Comdirect Cortal Consor

Fimatex DAB Bank ING-Diba

Flatex

€

0,00-

€

12,500. On the following page a different graph focuses on this interval.

(53)

Commission on transaction interval with a value of Euro 0,00- Euro 12.5001_: € 0,00 € 5,00 € 10,00 € 15,00 € 20,00 € 25,00 € 30,00 € 35,00 € 40,00 order of €0,00 order of €2.000 order of €4.000 order of €6.000 order of €8.000 order of €10.000 order of €12.500

BinckBanck Frankrijk Comdirect Cortal Consor

Fimatex DAB Bank ING-Diba

Flatex Pricing model: BinckBank France (Euronext and Eurex) Comdirect (All German stock markets) Cortal Consor (Xetra) DAB Bank (Xetra) Fimatex (Xetra) Flatex ING-Diba On all exchanges Local trades Fixed commission 4,90 + 0,25% + 0,0015 % 5,90 + 0,25% 6,45 + 0,25% 0,2% of value wit min. 9,70 5, - + 1,35 exchange fee 5, - Euro is additionally charged for every partially filled order 0,25% of value wit min. 9,90