All Bell ceremonies

The Future of Banking Academy

The Future of Banking Academy sounds gong

The trading will be opened today on the occasion of The Future of Banking Academy. The Future of Banking Academy is an invitation-only program held from 20-25 September 2015 in Amsterdam, co-created by Amsterdam Institute of Finance and FMO.

Executive financial sector professionals from around the world will be specially invited to take part in this 6-day journey – educating professionals that will shape the future of banking and preparing them for new levels of leadership within their organizations. Led by renowned academics and practitioners who are selected for their expertise and ability to engage professionals, this program offers a unique opportunity to learn, share knowledge and interact with other rising stars of the financial sector around the globe.

Amsterdam Institute of Finance is a self-supporting, not-for-profit foundation, specialized in providing high-level financial training for finance and other professionals. Participants in AIF programs have the advantage of learning from the world's leading experts who have significant teaching as well as consulting experience.

FMO (the Netherlands Development Finance Company) is the Dutch development bank. FMO supports sustainable private sector growth in developing and emerging markets by investing in ambitious entrepreneurs. FMO believes a strong private sector leads to economic and social development, empowering people to employ their skills and improve their quality of life.

For more information: www.aif.nl

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Dutch Association of Investors for Sustainable Development

VBDO sounds gong for sustainability

Giuseppe van der Helm, VBDO’s Executive Director sounds the gong today to bring attention to sustainability.

Together with Euronext listed companies, AkzoNobel and Unilever, VBDO highlights the importance of sustainability. AkzoNobel and Unilever rank high on one of the most renowned sustainability indexes. This index is a global sustainability benchmark and tracks the stock performance of the world's leading companies in terms of economic, environmental and social criteria.

The Dutch Association of Investors for Sustainable Development (VBDO) creates a sustainable capital market: a market that considers not only financial criteria but also non-financial, social and environmental criteria. VBDO’s vision is to increase sustainability awareness among companies and investors.

For more information: www.vbdo.nl

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Cut Throat Amsterdam

Barbers at the Amsterdam Exchange

In 1934, the Exchange Salon was opened at the Amsterdam exchange building. Before they entered the trading floor, stockbrokers visited the barber for a shaving in a classical way. However, the barber disappeared in 1996 from Beursplein 5. Cut Throat Amsterdam brings back the barbers to the Amsterdam Exchange. From today the barber shop is open to the public. Co-owners Tom Sadd and James Reichwein sound the gong and open trading.

Cut Throat Amsterdam is an experiential concept located at the Amsterdam Exchange, Beursplein 5 in the heart of Amsterdam, it combines numerous aspects including Food, Drinks, Barbering and Coffee to create a destination space where many needs can be met in a friendly and welcoming environment.

The various aspects have been designed and delivered at a world class level. An original cocktail menu was designed by world renowned Cocktail Specialist Danil Nevsky. Cut Throat has also partnered up with acclaimed Amsterdam restaurateurs Fraiche Hospitality to deliver modern American Brunch and Dinner offerings. The remaining aspects are brought over from the existing Cut Throat Barber and Coffee, which has seen huge success since opening June 2013.

For more information: www.cutthroatbarber.nl

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Saint-Gobain's 350th anniversary

For Saint-Gobain's 350th anniversary, Pierre-André de Chalendar, Chairman and CEO, opens the European trading day in Paris.

Pierre-André de Chalendar rang the bell that opened the European financial markets. He referred to the 350-year history of the oldest company in the CAC40 and reaffirmed his confidence in the future.

In 2015, Saint-Gobain is celebrating its 350th anniversary. Backed by its experience and its ability to continuously innovate, Saint-Gobain, the world leader in the habitat and construction market, designs, manufactures and distributes high-performance and building materials providing innovative solutions to the challenges of growth, energy efficiency and environmental protection. Saint-Gobain focuses on the long term to create products and services that make sustainable construction and everyday life easier for its customer.

With 2014 sales of €41 billion, Saint-Gobain operates in 66 countries and has over 180,000 employees.

For more information about Saint-Gobain, visit www.saint-gobain.com and the twitter account @saintgobain or download the “Saint-Gobain Shareholder” application for tablet and smartphone.

ICT Automatisering

ICT Automatisering visits Beursplein 5

Jos Blejie, CEO of the Euronext listed ICT Automatisering (ticker symbol: ICT) celebrates the acquisition of RASTER by sounding the gong.

ICT Automatisering announced that it has completed the purchase of 100% of the shares of RASTER, a Dutch based system integrator. The intended acquisition marks a significant step in the growth strategy of ICT. The acquisition of RASTER will substantially enrich ICT’s Industrial Automation activities and will further improve ICT’s position as a total solutions provider and open up new markets and customers.

ICT Group is an independent provider of industrial automation services. Their specific industry knowledge of various markets, enables the company to realize innovative solutions. Over 700 passionate technical specialists are working for the ICT Group. The following subsidiaries are member of the ICT Group: ICT Netherlands (ICT Automatisering Nederland B.V.), Strypes Bulgaria (ICT Nearshoring B.V.), Improve Quality Services and InTraffic (50%).

For more information: www.ict.eu  

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Dam tot Damloop

Dam tot Damloop sounds gong with sponsors

On 19 and 20 September the Dam tot Dam Weekend, one of biggest sportive events in the Netherlands, takes place. Therefore organizer Le Champion opens trading together with her sponsors KLM and Ahold and the charity Right To Play.

This upcoming weekend more than 86,000 athletes will enjoy their participation during one of the Dam tot Dam events. Saturday 19 September 17,000 walkers participate in the Dam tot Dam Wandeltocht. In the evening follows the Damloop by night with 12,000 runners. One day later 6,000 cyclists come to the Dam square in Amsterdam for the Dam tot Dam FietsClassic. The highlight of the weekend is the Dam tot Damloop with 50,000 participants, the biggest running event of the Netherlands. Over 250,000 spectators come to Amsterdam or Zaandam to soak up the atmosphere of the events.

For more information: www.damloop.nl

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WEBB Traders

WEBB Traders celebrates expansion membership Euronext Paris

WEBB Traders opens trading by sounding the gong to celebrate the expansion of their activities as liquidity provider to the Euronext Paris cash and derivatives market. Managing Director Thijs Booij sounds the gong.

WEBB Traders is a fast growing global proprietary trading company active in electronic trading on global equity and derivatives exchanges. WEBB acts as professional counterparty to market participants in various financial products. The company develops its own unique trading systems and strategies with a team of experiences software developers and traders. WEBB trades for own account and is regulated by AFM.

WEBB recently moved to its new headquarters in Amsterdam, and is supported by a broader European presence with offices in London and Paris from where the regional and US markets are traded. The APAC region is covered and further developed from its Hong Kong office.

For more information: www.webbtraders.nl

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Options Flow Traders

Euronext adds options Flow Traders to Spotlight segment

Flow Traders (option trading symbol: FLW) celebrates the launch of Spotlight options on its shares by opening trading at Beursplein 5. Co-CEO Sjoerd Rietberg sounds the gong.

“We are pleased that Euronext has taken the initiative to launch options on our share”, said Sjoerd Rietberg,co-CEO of Flow Traders. ''As a liquidity provider in the fast growing global  ETP markets, we believe the addition of options to complement our Euronext stock trading will further enhance the visibility of our company in the marketplace and multiply ways in which investors can participate in our company.”

Flow Traders is an independent technology-enabled liquidity provider in Exchange Traded Products (ETPs). Flow Traders was founded in 2004 in Amsterdam and has grown into a globally operating fin-tech company with over 200 employees. With offices in Amsterdam, Singapore and Cluj, Flow Traders is active on 94 trading venues in 32 countries. In total, Flow Traders provides liquidity in over 4,000 ETP listing and trades in over 11,000 financial instruments.

For more information:  www.flowtraders.com

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AkzoNobel's Sikkens Kleurinitiatief

AkzoNobel's Sikkens Kleurinitiatief opens trading

Kees Ekelmans, Managing Director Benelux, AkzoNobel Decorative Paints, part of the Euronext listed AkzoNobel (ticker symbol: AKZA) sounds the gong at the Amsterdam exchange to launch a colourful season for Dutch primary schools.

This school year several employees of the paint manufacturer provide primary schools throughout the Netherlands with free paint jobs. This programme called Sikkens Kleurinitiatief NL stems from the desire of employees to be socially active in their immediate surroundings. Sikkens Kleurinitiatief NL fits into AkzoNobel's program "Human Cities" which aims among others  to make cities and our environment more colourful. Kees Ekelmans, Managing Director Benelux, AkzoNobel Decorative Paints: "It’s very important to us to take responsibility and contribute to our society. Is there a better place to start with than in schools and inspire our children?"

The painting is done by students of Regional Education Centers and painting academies. They carry out their internship in the Kleurinitiatief NL, under the supervision of a retired paint professional. Pupils from primary schools receive, in addition to a beautifully painted room, also an education pack, and learn about colour and the craft of painting.

For more information:  www.sikkens.nl/nl/kleurinitiatief

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TomTom Spark

TomTom opens trading and launched TomTom Spark

TomTom (ticker symbol: TOM2) opens trading today to celebrate the launch of the new TomTom Spark, the all-new fitness watch with integrated music player, making it easier for fitness enthusiasts to boost their training. Corinne Vigreux, co-founder and MD of Consumer sounds the gong with colleagues of the development and launch team of the TomTom Spark.

At TomTom the mission is to make technology so easy to use, that everyone can achieve more. They created easy to use navigation devices, helping millions of people to get where they want to be. Today, they continue to simplify the complex, making technology more accessible for everyone.

TomTom serves four different markets: Consumer, Telematics, Automotive and Licensing. Founded in 1991 and headquartered in Amsterdam, TomTom has over 4,200 employees worldwide and sells their products in over 46 countries.

For more information: www.tomtom.com

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Duisenberg Honours Programme

Launch Duisenberg Honours Programme by sounding gong

As of 1 September 2015, the Duisenberg School of Finance has integrated its educational programmes into the Duisenberg Honours Programmeof VU University Amsterdam and the University of Amsterdam. To highlight this occasion Willem Verschoor, dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business of VU University Amsterdam, sounds the gong.

The Duisenberg Honours Programme provides the Dutch industry with new high-quality finance programmes. The programme offers selected students additional challenges and opportunities to deepen their master studies. By integrating the former DSF programmes into the Master of Science Duisenberg Honours Programme at VU and UvA a powerful combination is created of academic and professional excellence. The academic honours programme has a strong alignment and close collaboration with the financial sector. This way, it meets the demand of the financial industry for highly-qualified fresh graduates.

For more information: www.vu.nl

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Euronext indexmotion

Euronext celebrates launch of indexmotion

Today Euronext celebrates the launch of indexmotion, the new fully customisable index service that offers index calculation across equities, commodities and currencies 23 hours a day and five days a week, with three end-of-day runs reflecting market close in Asia, Europe and the Americas. By launching indexmotion, Euronext is responding to the growing interest amongst investors in index-type products. Michael Hodgson, Head of Information Services at Euronext, sounds the gong.

indexmotion is designed to be able to support anyone that has an index idea or benchmarking need, ranging from tier one banks looking to outsource their own indices to ETF/ETP providers that want to develop new and unique product ideas to market. The index service offers the client oversight of the design, calculation, distribution and commercialisation to develop an idea into a fully-managed commercially distributable solution. A team of dedicated Euronext specialists will be in place to provide support resulting in a more efficient delivery process and a significantly reduced time to market. Moreover indexmotion has a very broad reach as the index data can be distributed over the infrastructure and network of the 400 authorised data redistributors that deliver other Euronext data products.

Euronext also continues to focus on its existing indices. Since the start of the year it has already signed over 50 one-off index licence agreements as well as several blanket index licence agreements. The number of products listed on Euronext, linked to its blue chip indices, increased by 43% while the ETFs linked to Euronext’s main indices saw a net inflow of EURO 550 million.

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RTL Z

RTL Z launches 24/7 TV Channel

The renewed RTL Z celebrates their launch by opening trading. Director RTL Z The Netherlands, Bert Habets, sounds the gong.

RTL Z, that broadcasts daily from the Amsterdam trading floor,  debutes a broader focus on not only the news but background stories and entertainment as well. Topics such as personal finance, business, innovation and lifestyle will be given extra attention, while the news, including breaking news, and the exchange remain important keystones.

With its own TV channel broadcasting 24/7, new website, new mobile app and social media channels, Z is accessible anytime and anywhere. Programs are available on demand, online and through the app. On TV, RTL Z broadcasts to-the-point throughout the day and remains the breaking news channel for RTL Nederland. In the evening there is room for analysis, interpretation and entertainment.

For more information: www.rtlnieuws.nl

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Jordaan Festival

Sounding of the gong kicks off Jordaan Festival

By sounding the gong, organisor Jan de Bie kicks off the 41^st edition of the Jordaan Festival. He is accompanied by singer Mick Harren.

The Jordaan Festival was founded in 1975 and celebrates the diversity of the former working class district Jordaan. The event is being held from 4 – 6 September and is sponsored by, among others, De Telegraaf, subsidiary of Euronext-listed Telegraaf Media Groep (ticker symbol: TMG). 

For more information: www.jordaanfestival.nl

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Winner Czech Golf Masters

Golfer Thomas Pieters rings opening bell

Thomas Pieters, the youngest Belgian golf pro ever to win a tournament on the European Tour, opened today's market in Brussels with a Bell Ceremony.

Thomas Pieters (23) recently won the Czech Masters, the biggest victory of his career so far, which immediately ranked him in the European top 60.

This weekend Thomas Pieters participates in the "Kings of Golf"exhibition tournament in Knokke. Nicolas Colsaerts and Marcel Siem will be his opponents at this tournement.

Van Gogh Museum

Van Gogh Museum sounds gong for new entrance

Axel Rüger, director of the Amsterdam Van Gogh Museum, sounds the gong on the occasion of the opening of the new building entrance on 5 September. He is accompanied by a delegation of Euronext-listed sponsors Van Lanschot (ticker symbol: LANS) and Heineken (ticker symbol: HEIA). 

Construction to move the main entrance to Museumplein has gone very well. It has been delivered within the tight eighteen-month deadline, and on budget. The all-glass entrance hall features high-quality structural engineering and systems, with modern walls and flooring. There is a spacious, well-lit foyer with cloakrooms and a revamped museum shop stocked with more than 500 new products. Improved access, better logistics and more space will allow the visitors a much warmer welcome than before. Moreover, this arrangement better suits the upgraded Museumplein – all its cultural institutions now have their entrances facing the square. To mark the opening of the new entrance hall, a major event is being held on Museumplein on Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 September. From 4 pm on Sunday, a total of 125,000 sunflowers will be handed out to members of the public.

For more information: www.vangoghmuseum.nl

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Jeugdsportfonds and Coca-Cola

Jeugdsportfonds and Coca-Cola launch new sport season by sounding the gong

Jeugdsportfonds and Coca-Cola jointly open trading at the Amsterdam exchange to draw attention to their cooperation in order to increase the opportunities for young people to play sports. Jaap Wassink, Managing Director Netherlands of the Euronext Paris listed Coca-Cola Enterprises (ticker symbol: CCE), sounds the gong.

Jeugdsportfonds and Coca-Cola share a special ambition. Together they want to increase the ability of young people to play sports, aiming to inspire young people in secondary education for sports. Focus is specifically on young people who grow up families with insufficient funds. In order to reach more young people from this target group, Jeugdsportfonds and Coca-Cola encourage teachers to volunteer as an intermediary.

Jeugdsportfonds pay the dues of the sports and sportswear to ensure these young people can experience the fun of sports together. It is important that all young people can develop socially, mentally and physically, and so get a view of a better future. Partly due to the collaboration with Coca-Cola, more young people aged 12 to 18 years work out compared to 2013: a rise of 17 percent. With the start of the new school year and sports season, Jeugdsportfonds and Coca-Cola aim to continue this growth.

For more information: www.coca-colanederland.nl

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Fondsevent 360

Gong ceremony marks eighth edition of Fondsevent 360

The traditional sounding of the gong announces the eighth edition of Fondsevent 360, to be held on September 28 in Spant in Bussum.

Fondsevent 360 is the largest knowledge and networking event in the Netherlands for investment advisers, private bankers and asset managers. This year, the Fondsevent 360 focusses on the theme of geopolitical developments and what the consequences are for investment portfolios.

Fondsevent is organized by Fondsnieuws - part of the FD Mediagroep - and CONSPIRACYSINC in collaboration with 10 reputable funding organizations, namely: BNP Paribas Investment Partners, Delta Lloyd Asset Management, Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management, Fidelity Worldwide Investment, Henderson Global Investors, Kempen Capital Management, NN Investment Partners, Schroders, Robeco and UBS Global Asset Management.

For more information: www.fondsevent.nl

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