Compagnie Financiere Tradition and China Ping An Trust & Investment Company Limited establish a Joint Venture named Ping An Tradition International Money Broking Company Limited

28 januari 2008Corporate news announcement processed and transmitted by Hugin ASA. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------- Compagnie Financiere Tradition (CFT) announced today that a license has been granted by China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) to establish a Joint Venture (JV) with China Ping An Trust & Investment Company Limited (Ping An Trust), a subsidiary of China Ping An group. The JV will be named Ping An Tradition International Money Broking Company Limited and will conduct money broking business as approved by Chinese law. The registered capital of the JV will be CNY 50 million, 67% of which will be owned by Ping An Trust and the remaining by CFT. The JV will be incorporated in Shenzhen, with coverage throughout the entire country. The license of the JV is the third of its kind in China. It is estimated that the JV will take 6 months to launch its official operations. The scope of business will cover all money broking business as laid out by the rules and regulations governing the operation of money brokers in China, including but not limited to foreign exchange, money markets, fixed income and derivative products. Hoi Tung, CEO and Chairman of Ping An Trust said that the cooperation with CFT marked an important step of the Ping An group to develop its financial business. With the strength of both parties, the JV works in the spirit of mutual support and trust to make sure it will become part of the international trading platform of the money broking business and capitalize on the worldwide customer base of CFT. At the same time, Ping An brings their local knowledge of the China market to help developing the JV's business. A JV of this kind meets with the strategic goal of Ping An to become a leading financial group in the world. Adrian Bell, Managing Director of CFT for the Asian Pacific region expressed, on behalf of Mr. Patrick Combes, Chairman of CFT and the entire Management Board, great delight in formalizing the upcoming establishment of the JV. CFT is extremely happy to team up with such a progressive company. "We believe that the new JV over time will be a healthy contributor to the ongoing development of the domestic financial markets in China and also a conduit to link those markets to the world as and when appropriate. The combination of Ping An Trust's proven business acumen, local knowledge and unrivalled broad footprint throughout China geographically and with Tradition's track record being the leading player in Asia's key financial centers and its long term commitment to the region shall ensure the success of the JV to become a long term and prominent player in the Chinese domestic financial markets. We look very much forward to working hand in hand with our JV partner and the market participants to contribute to the long term development of the China market and the success of our JV." About Ping An Trust: Ping An Trust under Ping An Group is a trust company with the largest registered capital in China, one of the grade A company ranked by CBRC, of professional and advance experience in property, infrastructure and trust investment. The business of Ping An Trust is also to provide strategic investment services for Ping An Group as well as high grade asset management services for external customers. About Compagnie Financière Tradition: Compagnie Financiere Tradition is today one of the world's "Top Three" Interdealer Brokers (IDB) with a leading and long established presence in Asia. With a presence in 24 countries, CFT has a strong client base around the globe, primarily comprised of banks and financial institutions as well as local authorities, major industrial and commercial corporations. CFT provides broking services for a complete range of financial products (money market products, bonds, interest rate, currency and credit derivatives, equities, equity derivatives, interest rate futures and index futures) and commodity-related products (precious metals, energy and environmental products). CFT is listed on the SWX Swiss Exchange. Lausanne, 28 January 2008 Press contacts: Compagnie Financière Tradition Patrick Combes, Chairman Tel.: +41 21 343 52 66 Rochat & Partners Violaine Dällenbach Tel.: +41 22 718 37 42 --- End of Message --- Compagnie Financière Tradition Langallerie 11 Lausanne Switzerland WKN: 870121; ISIN: CH0014345117; Index: SPI, SSCI, SPIEX; Listed: Main Market in SWX Swiss Exchange;