1.  Introduction

With this circular, we inform you about the amendments to the Exchange Rules for the Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse (“Exchange Rules”) by means of the Twenty-fourth Amendment Ordinance to the Exchange Rules and the amendments to the Conditions for Transactions on the Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse (“Conditions for Transactions”) by means of the Fourteenth Amendment Ordinance to the Conditions for Transactions.

In addition, the Management Board of Frankfurt Stock Exchange has set out details for the registration of Third-Party Software and Independent Software Providers and for testing Third-Party Software (see 3.A. below).

The amendments to the rulebooks will come into effective on different dates. Please find the details below.

The above-mentioned amendment ordinances are attached to this circular. The amended rulebooks including the amendment ordinances are accessible on the Xetra website www.xetra.com under the following link:

Rules & Regulations > Rulebooks Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse

2.  Required action

Third-Party Software must be tested and registered. Third-Party Software that an Admitted Company obtains from an Independent Software Provider for connection to the Exchange EDP can only be registered if the Independent Software Provider has also registered with FWB. Details about the registration of Third-Party Software and Independent Software Providers as well as the testing of Third-Party Software are outlined under 3.A.

3.  Details

A. Obligation to register Third-Party Software and Independent Software Providers and obligation to test Third-Party Software

§ 36 Para. 1 of the Exchange Rules stipulates that Admitted Companies must register Third-Party Software (as defined in Annex I to the Exchange Rules) prior to its connection to the Exchange EDP of FWB. Third-Party Software that an Admitted Company obtains from a software provider (so-called Independent Software Provider ("ISV")) for connection to the Exchange EDP can only be registered if the ISV has also registered with FWB. Registrations must be carried out via an electronic platform provided by FWB for this purpose ("Member Section" portal).

According to § 36 Para. 2 of the Exchange Rules, Third-Party Software must have been sufficiently tested prior to its use to ensure that it cannot impair orderly exchange trading. The Management Board of FWB has set out more detailed provisions for the method of registration and testing which can be retrieved from Attachment 3.

To ensure orderly exchange trading, § 36 Para. 3 of the Exchange Rules authorises the Management Board of FWB, among other things, to prohibit the connection of Third-Party Software to the Exchange EDP and to interrupt an existing connection of Third-Party Software.

Editorial changes have been applied to § 37 Para. 1 of the Exchange Rules.

These amendments will come into effect on 30 June 2025

B. Deletion of prohibition to enter Quotes, Cross Trades, Pre-arranged Trades via Order-Routing Systems

§ 37 Para. 2 Number 2a of the Exchange Rules provides that only orders for transactions and their deletion may be entered in an Order-Routing System. In contrast, entry, modification and deletion of Quotes as well as the entry of Cross Trades and Pre-arranged Trades and corresponding Trade Requests is prohibited in accordance with § 3 of the Conditions for Transactions. This prohibition has been completely deleted.

Thereby, Trading Participants will be allowed to enter Quotes, Cross Trades and Pre-arranged Trades via Order-Routing Systems in the future. The amendment will come into effect on 17 March 2025.

C. Continuous Auction: Adjustment of period sequence in case of Sold-Out situations in structured products

Pursuant to § 71 Para. 3 No. 3b of the Exchange Rules in their current version, a change to the call is skipped if there is an unlimited buy order without a quote from the Quote Provider and the Security is sold out by the issuer in accordance with § 104 Para. 5 No. 1 of the Exchange Rules.

This provision shall also be applied if there are orders executable against each other in the order book without an Indicative or Binding Quote of the Quote Provider and the Security has been sold out by the issuer in accordance with § 104 Para. 5 No. 1 of the Exchange Rules. Accordingly, § 71 Para. 3 No. 3 lit. b) of the Exchange Rules will be amended with effect from 16 June 2025.

D. SMP-identification of orders in Trading Model Xetra Midpoint

In § 76 Para. 4 lit. c) of the Exchange Rules, the processing logic applicable in the Trading Model Xetra Midpoint for algorithmically generated proprietary trading orders that have been entered with the execution condition Self-Match Prevention ("SMP") and with the same SMP-identification has now been expressly included in the rulebook. However, the processing logic corresponds to the one defined in the technical documentation for the T7 trading model, so that the inclusion of the regulation in the Exchange Rules does not result in any changes for the Trading Participant. The amendment will come into force on 17 March 2025.

E. Pre-Trading Transparency during the call in the Continuous Auction with Market Maker

§ 117 Para. 4 of the Exchange Rules will be amended to the effect that during the pre-call and the call of the Continuous Auction with Market Maker, order volumes of the respectively best occupied price limit will be published, taking into account the Indicative and the Binding Market Maker quotes. The amendments will come into effect on 17 March 2025.

In this respect, § 117 Para. 4 of the Exchange Rules now reflects the current system behaviour.

F. Duration of entry period for Cross Trades and Pre-arranged Trades

With effect from 17 March 2025, the period for entering the Order or Binding Quote giving rise to Cross Trades or Pre-arranged Trades specified in § 3 Para. 2 Clause 2 of the Conditions for Transactions will be extended from 1 second to 121 seconds at the latest after the entry of the Trade Request.

G. Deletion of option to submit the connection structure

Due to a lack of demand, the possibility for Admitted Companies to clarify questions abstractly in advance with the Trading Surveillance Office by submitting details of their connection structure in accordance with § 3 Para. 3 of the Conditions for Transactions will be deleted with effect from 17 March 2025.

Even without such an explicit provision, Admitted Companies can approach FWB with questions about the interpretation of the rulebooks and ask for clarification.

H. Prohibition of circumvention practices

§ 3 Para. 4 of the Conditions for Transactions stipulates that § 3 Para. 1 and Para. 2 apply mutatis mutandis to other practices that constitute a circumvention of these provisions.

The scope of application of this regulation is covered by § 121 of the Exchange Rules (Market Integrity), so that no separate regulation is required. § 3 Para. 4 of the Conditions for Transactions can therefore be deleted without replacement with effect from 17 March 2025.

I. Identity of Beneficial Owner in case of Off-Book Cross Trades

According to § 3d of the Conditions for Transactions, Trading Participants "may not make [order] entries for off-book transactions in which the beneficial owner is identical on both the buy and sell side." This regulation will be deleted with effect from 17 March 2025.

The deletion of this provision at the FWB is not precluded by any legal or regulatory provisions.

Further information