Van der Moolen Holding N.V. (VDM) announces that on December 6, 2006, VDM received final approval from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York of VDM’s settlement of the Stock Drop Class Action. In its press release of July 24, 2006 VDM announced that it had reached this settlement subject inter alia to court approval. This matter concerned a shareholder securities class action entitled "In re Van der Moolen Holding NV Securities Litigation". The complaint in this case was filed on September 14, 2004 on behalf of a class of persons who held VDM’s ADRs between October 18, 2001 and October 15, 2003. In giving final approval to the settlement, the Court also granted the certification of the settlement class.

Under the terms of the settlement agreement, which is now final, the lead plaintiffs agreed to settle on behalf of the class all claims against Van der Moolen Holding N.V., Van der Moolen Specialists USA, LLC and members of the Executive Board of Van der Moolen Holding N.V. for the sum of $8,0 million.

The settlement was recognized in our second quarter 2006 financial statements.

For more information about Van der Moolen, please visit www.vandermoolen.com or contact Investor Relations/Corporate Communications, telephone +31 (0)20 535 6789.