1. What are the pros and cons of Deutsche Bank listing on the NYSE as a global share instead of an ADR?

2. Are these pros and cons of a GRS issue likely to change over time? In which direction?

3. What changes would increase the desirability of issuing global shares?

In August 2001, as Deutsche Bank was preparing its hotly anticipated U.S. share offering, it was pursuing a strategy that only three other foreign companies had tried before: listing as a global registered share. A global share from Deutsche Bank, Europe's largest bank, was a victory for the New York Stock Exchange. The NYSE has been a big promoter of the concept since its chairman hailed the first one as ''the moment when globalization came to the U.S. markets.'' That moment was in November 1998, when DaimlerChrysler (now Daimler) began trading as a global share in the United States, Germany, Japan, and five other countries.

One argument in favor of global shares is that they are less expensive to trade than ADRs. Specifically, although ADRs have been a widely accepted way to trade non-North American securities, fairly significant additional costs are associated with purchases and sales across markets. These costs arise from the need to convert ADRs to ordinary shares, and ordinary shares to ADRs with a cross-border transaction. The depositary bank executes the conversion and charges a fee each way, as much as 5 cents per share. By comparison, the NYSE charges a flat $5 per trade, no matter how many shares change hands. On the other hand, whereas the custodial bank that creates an ADR usually covers the listing costs, legal, and other fees associated with global shares can run as much as $2 million. Moreover, a global share requires coordinating back-office systems and regulatory bodies. Creating such a global clearing and settlement system requires much more effort than issuing an ADR. However, as the world's markets edge closer to 24-hour trading, global shares will become increasingly convenient, as stock markets and clearing and settlement systems consolidate.