Thirteen Banks Make Stategic Investments in Mark-it Partners

London, 12 January 2004 - Mark-it Partners ("Mark-it") today announced that nine additional financial institutions have made equity investments in the Company, bringing to thirteen the total number of firms that have committed both capital and data to the business. Since the Company's launch in February 2003, Mark-it has become the leading provider of independent credit derivative and syndicated loan pricing, and reference entity data.

With this round of financing, the world's leading financial institutions have cast a vote of confidence for Mark-it and its growing suite of credit transparency services. Every institution that participated in the formation of the service through a data commitment has now exercised their option to make a strategic equity investment in the Company.

Mark-it is now working with over 100 international financial institutions as the firm audits, maps and distributes market valuations on corporate bonds, credit default swaps and syndicated bank loans on a daily basis. The service delivers an integrated credit pricing solution that allows credit risk portfolio managers to sharply reduce the cost and complexity of the mark-to-market process.

Lance Uggla, CEO of Mark-it Partners, said: "The decision by 13 of the world's largest global credit trading institutions to invest and power the continuing development of Mark-it validates the strength of our business model and its success in creating new benchmarks in credit pricing."

"Our acquisition of LoanX, the leading provider of syndicated loan pricing globally, emphasises our ongoing commitment to become the de facto global provider of credit pricing data for all credit instruments through one technology platform. This additional financial investment by our strategic partners provides us with a strong capital base to finance additional investments that will create a more liquid and transparent credit market."

Mr Uggla continued:" We are focussed on our customers and their developing needs and will continue to add to, and improve, our product in a manner that delivers an integrated solution via a lower cost platform."

About Mark-it Partners Ltd

Launched in February 2003, Mark-it Partners Ltd is an independent company offering the world's first daily service for pricing credit derivatives and cash credit instruments, providing credit data to any market participant for the first time.

Mark-it Partners contributing Partners include ABN Amro, Bank of America, Citigroup, Credit Suisse First Boston, Deutsche Bank, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase Bank, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, TD Securities, and UBS. These banks feed current and historical credit data into the Mark-it system on a daily basis, facilitating better decision-making and credit risk management within banks' credit operations.

In January 2004, Mark-it Partners acquired US-based syndicated loan broker and data provider, LoanX. The combined customer bases on Mark-it Partners and LoanX now include over 100 international financial institutions that receive market valuations on corporate bonds, credit default swaps and syndicated bank loans on a daily basis. Customers can compare this related pricing information in order to increase credit market transparency and liquidity, as well as manage risk more precisely.