OMX, a leading expert in the exchange industry, has signed an agreement with BIDS Trading, L.P. (Block Interest Discovery Service). Under the terms of the agreement, OMX will provide hosting capabilities for the BIDS ATS. BIDS Trading, L.P. is a newly formed alternative trading system (ATS) designed to increase competition and liquidity in the U.S. equity block trading market. "Our partnership with OMX provides BIDS Trading with the financial technology platform necessary to offer open, efficient access to both the buy- and sell-side, previously not available on existing crossing networks," said Timothy Mahoney, Chief Executive Officer of BIDS Trading. "Our users will benefit from exceptional financial technology, which will support the anonymous trading of large blocks, from execution straight through to settlement." "Our agreement with BIDS Trading reflects the rapidly changing dynamic of marketplaces in North America and Europe, where increasingly alternative trading systems and exchanges are both partners and competitors," said Markus Gerdien, President Business Area Market Technology OMX. "As a provider of technology to over 60 exchanges in more than 50 countries, we understand the unique requirements of this industry, which is crucial in launching this new ATS." "BIDS Trading is bringing to market a new solution in the rapidly expanding segment of equities block trading," said Wayne Arden, Head of Sales, Americas, OMX. "We look forward to working closely with BIDS Trading, using our financial industry expertise and specialized technology resources to help BIDS Trading in their goal to build the deepest liquidity pool possible for trading large blocks of equities." For more information, please contact: Niclas Lilja, Press Relations, OMX +46 8 405 63 95 About BIDS Trading, L.P. | BIDS Trading, L.P. is a registered broker-dealer and the operator of the BIDS Alternative Trading System (ATS), which was designed to bring counterparties together to anonymously trade large blocks of shares. Developed by a consortium of leading financial services firms, the BIDS ATS resolves the classic paradox of the block trader - the need to find legitimate trading counterparties without prematurely revealing trading intentions. BIDS Trading is a joint venture of: Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC), Citi (NYSE: C), Credit Suisse Group (NYSE: CS), Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB), The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM), Knight Capital Group, [Inc.] (NASDAQ: NITE), Lehman Brothers (NYSE: LEH), Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER), Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), and UBS (NYSE: UBS). The BIDS ATS will be open to all qualifying broker-dealers and their institutional clients, subject to basic credit and regulatory requirements. About OMX | OMX is a leading expert in the exchange industry. Through the Nordic Exchange, OMX offers access to approximately 80 percent of the Nordic and Baltic securities market. The Nordic Exchange is a term used for marketing purposes and is not a legal entity. It describes the common offering from the Helsinki Stock Exchange, Copenhagen Stock Exchange, Stockholm Stock Exchange, Iceland Stock Exchange, Tallinn Stock Exchange, Riga Stock Exchange and Vilnius Stock Exchange. OMX integrated technology solutions cross the transaction chain enabling efficient securities transactions for over 60 exchange organizations in more than 50 countries. OMX is a Nordic Large Cap company in the Financials sector on the OMX Nordic Exchange. For more information, please visit www.omxgroup.com