The boards of directors of CPR Online, the e-brokerage arm of Crédit Agricole, and Top Trades, an online broker owned by Crédit Lyonnais, have approved a draft plan to merge the two firms. As part of the plan, CPR Online has acquired 100% of Top Trades' stock from Calyon.

CPR Online is a pioneer in electronic brokerage, with more than 10 years' experience in stock market investment services. It delivers leading-edge technology and high added-value solutions to a demanding customer base.

Top Trades' customers, whose accounts and assets will shortly be transferred to CPR Online, will continue to enjoy top-quality service. In addition, they will have access to new offerings such as intraday valuation, consensus estimate data prepared by JCF Group's financial analysts, a selection of more than 120 preferentially-priced investment funds, and share price data supplied via streaming media (TMS) to create a "in-home trading environment".

The major benefits of the tie-up between CPR Online and Top Trades are the quality of their products and services, available on the www.cpr-online.com website, and the expertise of their customer advice teams.