AdvisorCentral Alliance with Financial Research Corporation Gives Advisors Access to FRC Data.

Business Editors

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 20, 2003

Alliance Furthers AdvisorCentral's Momentum as a Business-Building

Portal Providing Indispensable Market Intelligence

AdvisorCentral, a core-business building portal for financial advisors and broker-dealers, today announced a new level of service for registered users through a strategic alliance with Financial Research Corporation (FRC). Via the alliance, FRC will make its investment management industry research available to financial advisors for the first time. Registered users of AdvisorCentral will have access to the latest product news, industry trends, and leading-edge investment industry information from the site.

"We are excited that FRC has selected AdvisorCentral's registered users as the first access point for financial advisors to view its coveted data and analysis," said AdvisorCentral President and CEO Harold R. (Harry) Groom. "Our relationship extends AdvisorCentral's value as a site providing indispensable information, commentary, research and workplace resources. AdvisorCentral users now have a greater depth of decision support information at their fingertips--increasing the value of advisory services they can provide, and strengthening their competitive advantage."

With access to the FRC data, AdvisorCentral users will gain new insights into investors' needs and behaviors, as well as changes in the mutual fund industry landscape. With this additional level of information, advisors will be able to provide guidance about fund selections and purchases with more knowledge and confidence. All decision-support information provided by FRC will be objective and fund neutral.

"The opportunity for FRC to be associated with AdvisorCentral as their preferred provider of market intelligence is very significant for us, and our early alliance marks the first step in a much deeper relationship with AdvisorCentral and the advisor community," said T. Neil Bathon, President and Founder, FRC. "Eventually, we hope to establish interactive dialogues with financial advisors through the site, extending the industry's understanding of the role of intermediaries in delivering fund companies' products. This will benefit advisors and mutual fund companies alike."

Launched in November 2001, AdvisorCentral aggregates account information from 47 fund companies and receives two million queries per month from registered users. By the end of 2003, AdvisorCentral expects to have 65,000 registered users. These include independent financial advisors as well as advisors affiliated with major broker-dealers, who have been mass enrolling their professionals on the site.

About AdvisorCentral

AdvisorCentral (advisorcentral.com) serves as a core business-building portal for financial advisors and broker-dealers--providing indispensable information, commentary, research, and workplace resources. AdvisorCentral is also a major marketing resource for participating mutual fund companies. Leveraging industry-standard technologies for ease of use, AdvisorCentral provides advisors with consolidated views of their clients' holdings across all participating fund companies and receives nearly two million monthly queries. While features may vary by investment company, AdvisorCentral offers a range of additional capabilities such as the ability to make purchases, exchanges and redemptions; view detailed historical transactions; calculate contingent deferred sales charges; and directly link to participating funds' Web sites. AdvisorCentral is jointly owned by Fidelity Investments(R), Franklin(R) Templeton(R) Investors Services, Inc., Putnam Investments and PFPC Inc., a member of the PNC Financial Services Group, Inc., and its service is free to advisors.

About Financial Research Corporation (FRC)

Now in its 16th year, Financial Research Corporation (FRC) is a full-service product and distribution research firm with unmatched expertise in the financial services industry. FRC's foremost benefit is identifying actionable recommendations that directly support clients' business goals. Through three different levels of support (Market Analytics, Enhanced Analytics, Direct Access), FRC identifies strategic opportunities, improves distribution effectiveness and increases profitability across its eight subject matter expert areas--mutual funds, variable annuities, managed accounts, college savings, retirement markets, sub-advisory services, alternative products, and offshore products. Based in Boston, FRC is at the forefront of assisting its clients to comprehend and respond to the rapid changes occurring in the manufacture and distribution of investment products by delivering highly focused, customized solutions that strengthen competitive advantage and maximize growth. For more information, visit the FRC Web site at www.frcnet.com.

FRC is a BISYS company (NYSE: BSG).