NASDAQ OMX and SAGIA Announce New Methodology to Recognize Corporate Leadership - the 100 Most Competitive CEOs List

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Tadawul Stock ExchangeTadawul Stock Exchange, Saudi Arabia - First Stock Exchange to Lead the Initiative

RIYADH, January 26, 2010: The NASDAQ OMX GroupNASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) and the Saudi Arabian General Investment AuthoritySaudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA)(SAGIA), today announced a new initiative to recognize competitive leadership behaviors that directly impact corporate performance, as found in publicly disclosed data. TadawulTadawul, the Saudi Stock ExchangeSaudi Stock Exchange, will be the first stock exchange to implement the SAGIA/NASDAQ OMXNASDAQ OMX methodology. The intent over time is to make the 100 Most Competitive CEOs list a global benchmark. The announcement was made at the 4th Global Competitiveness Forum, being held in Riyadh this week.

The list of the Most Competitive CEOs is being created to recognize outstanding leadership for companies with the highest standards contributing to business success. These elements include the ability to generate growth and create value, the ability to innovate and create new products and services, and adherence to high standards of corporate governance.

NASDAQ OMXNASDAQ OMX CEO Bob Greifeld said, "We are pleased to partner with SAGIASAGIA on this important ranking of leading companies. The methodology that we have together created can serve as an aspirational benchmark for Saudi Arabian and Gulf companies, and for publicly traded organizations around the world that are well governed and seek to create growth and prosperity. We congratulate TadawulTadawul for taking a pioneering leadership position in choosing to engage in this program."

Speaking at the Riyadh launch, HE Amr Al Dabbagh said, "Saudi Arabia is at the forefront of the global discussion on sustainable competitiveness and I'm very pleased to be able to use the platform of the 4th Global Competitiveness Forum to launch initiatives, with local and global reach, to recognize pioneers and leaders in this field. We welcome our partnership with NASDAQ OMXNASDAQ OMX in this program as they bring a truly global perspective and unsurpassed expertise in monitoring and assessing standards of corporate governance."

The Chairman of TadawulTadawul, Dr. Fahad Al-Mubarak, said, "TadawulTadawul is delighted to be leading the participation in this welcome and significant initiative. The relevance to company success, growth and value creation of the factors identified by the initiative are important not only for company management, but also for investors. This makes the initiative doubly useful. We are especially pleased that the initiative has deemed that TadawulTadawul is well qualified to meet the required high standards of transparency and public availability of relevant, comprehensive, accurate and timely information."

The annual list will be developed by aligning corporate behavior with indicators that drive competitiveness. SAGIASAGIA and NASDAQ OMXNASDAQ OMX will jointly develop a new data-based approach for evaluating corporate leadership behavior.

Corporate leadership will be reviewed according to four pillars that mirror traditional competitiveness indicators at a macro-economic level:

1. Corporate Governance: Transparency Indicators

2. Shareholder Value - Rate of Return: Infrastructure Efficiency Indicators

3. R&D Allocations Leading to Market Innovation: Knowledge Based Society Development/Innovation Indicators

4. The "X-Factor": An internationally recognized panel of experts, including CEOs of companies widely recognized for leadership in other surveys, will determine final rankings from the list of companies derived from the data screening.

Full details of the methodology, entry criteria and the application process will be published shortly.

-Ends-

About NASDAQ OMX
The NASDAQ OMX GroupNASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. is the world's largest exchange company. It delivers trading, exchange technology and public company services across six continents, with approximately 3,700 listed companies. NASDAQ OMXNASDAQ OMX offers multiple capital raising solutions to companies around the globe, including its U.S. listings market, NASDAQ OMXNASDAQ OMX Nordic, NASDAQ OMXNASDAQ OMX Baltic, NASDAQ OMXNASDAQ OMX First North, and the U.S. 144A sector. The company offers trading across multiple asset classes including equities, derivatives, debt, commodities, structured products and exchange-traded funds. NASDAQ OMXNASDAQ OMX technology supports the operations of over 70 exchanges, clearing organizations and central securities depositories in more than 50 countries. NASDAQ OMXNASDAQ OMX Nordic and NASDAQ OMXNASDAQ OMX Baltic are not legal entities but describe the common offering from NASDAQ OMXNASDAQ OMX exchanges in Helsinki, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Iceland, Tallinn, Riga, and Vilnius. For more information about NASDAQ OMXNASDAQ OMX, visit http://www.nasdaqomx.com. *Please follow NASDAQ OMXNASDAQ OMX on Twitter (http://twitter.com/nasdaq) and Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/NASDAQcom/13881287428).

About the Global Competitiveness Forum - www.gcf.org.sa
The Global Competitiveness Forum (GCF) was founded in 2006 by the Saudi Arabian General Investment AuthoritySaudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA)(SAGIA). It is an annual meeting of top business leaders, international political leaders, and selected intellectuals and journalists, to be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia under the patronage of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz.

The ultimate goal of the GCF is to be a global platform that raises awareness and enthusiasm around competitiveness challenges, and critically evaluates the state of competitiveness theory and practice as they relate to International Trade, Regional Development, FDI, the Environment, Innovation, Human Resources Development, Globalization and the Micro- and Macroeconomic requirements for becoming globally competitive.

From its inception the GCF has fostered dialogue on competitiveness and idea exchange between high prolife leaders. At the first Global Competitiveness Forum the theme addressed was "ICT as an Enabler for Competitiveness" which explored the impact that ICT can have on competitiveness and how to harness it. The second GCF Forum provided a high-profile and global perspective on the highly successful pro-growth competitiveness agendas being pursued by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and many other successful industrialized and emerging economies.

The 2010 event will be held at the Four Seasons Hotel Riyadh (www.fourseasons.com/riyadh)

About SAGIA - www.sagia.gov.sa
SAGIASAGIA, the Saudi Arabian General Investment AuthoritySaudi Arabian General Investment Authority, was established in 2000 as part of the new foreign investment law in Saudi Arabia. Its purpose is to attract investment to Saudi Arabia and more recently its mandate has evolved to encompass the enhancement of the Kingdom's overall competitiveness. SAGIASAGIA plans to attract sufficient investment to achieve rapid and sustainable economic growth in Saudi Arabia, capitalizing on the Kingdom's competitive strengths as the global capital of energy and as a major hub between East and West. It aims to position Saudi Arabia among the top ten most competitive nations by 2010 through the creation of a pro-business environment, a knowledge-based society, and by developing new, world-class 'Economic Cities'. In September 2008, the World Bank recognized the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia amongst the Top 20 most business-friendly countries in the world in its annual "Ease of Doing Business" report. Most recent reforms in Saudi Arabia improved the Kingdom's position from 16 to 13th out of 181 countries in the 2009 World Bank rankings.

To help boost competitiveness, SAGIASAGIA established the National Competitiveness Center (NCC) in 2006 to act as an independent body to monitor, assess and support the development of competitiveness in Saudi Arabia. The NCC serves as a think tank for change by conducting and developing competitive assessments and monitoring the implementation and results of change programs.

MEDIA CONTACTS
Bethany Sherman
NASDAQ OMX
T: +1 212 401 87 14
E: Bethany.Sherman@nasdaqomx.com

Yasmin Adem, Hill & Knowlton (Riyadh)
T: +966 1 288 6734
M: +966 55 7844129
E: yasmin.adem@hillandknowlton.com

© Press Release 2010