BT Alex. Brown Incorporated to Distribute Fixed Income Research Via FIRST CALL BondCall Direct.

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 13, 1998--

With This Agreement, 17 of the Top 20 Institutional Investor-ranked U.S. Fixed Income Research Firms Contribute to BondCall Direct

BT Alex. Brown Incorporated, an Institutional Investor-ranked U.S. fixed income research firm, has signed an agreement to distribute its fixed income research via FIRST CALL BondCall Direct. With this agreement, users of BondCall Direct will be able to access the research of top brokerage firms and rating agencies, including that of 17 of the top 20 Institutional Investor-ranked U.S. fixed income research firms. Boston-based First Call Corp., which launched its first product in 1985, is a unit of Thomson Financial Services.

FIRST CALL BondCall Direct is the one-stop source for global fixed income research from broker/dealers, rating agencies and other third parties. It allows clients to electronically access more than 70,000 commingled, original full-text, fixed income research reports -including all text, charts, graphs, color and formatting - as well as intra-day research notes and analysis in real-time. The research available on BondCall Direct is focused on investment grade and high yield corporate bonds, convertible securities, international bonds, mortgage-backed securities, asset-backed securities, strategy, structured debt, economics and municipal bonds.

BondCall Direct is available via the Internet from www.firstcall.com. This is the only service on the Web dedicated to commingled, fixed income research. BondCall Direct also is available over Research Direct - First Call's proprietary delivery platform for full-text research reports. This platform can be accessed via a dedicated terminal, through a desktop PC via a Windows-based LAN, or via third party services such as Bloomberg and Reuters.

"We are very excited to offer our BondCall Direct users access to BT Alex. Brown's research," said Lou Quattrucci, vice president and general manager of First Call's Fixed Income Services division. "Their high caliber research is a great complement to the research already available on the service."

BT Alex. Brown Incorporated, Bankers Trust's U.S. investment banking subsidiary, was formed on Sept. 1, 1997 with the merger of Bankers Trust and Alex. Brown Incorporated. Bankers Trust Corporation (NYSE:BT) is the seventh-largest U.S. bank holding company, with assets of $157 billion and offices in more than 55 countries. Its principal subsidiaries - Bankers Trust Company, BT Alex. Brown Incorporated and Bankers Trust International PLC - hold leadership positions in leveraged lending, high yield securities, equity underwriting and distribution, strategic advisory, and risk management. Bankers Trust is one of the world's largest investment managers, with more than $335 billion under management, and is a leading provider of securities-processing services, with $2 trillion in global assets under custody. Through its private client group, Bankers Trust provides asset management, brokerage, trust, risk management and other services to individuals and families.

First Call Corp. delivers real-time, commingled research, earnings estimates and corporate information to the worldwide financial community. More than 4,700 financial institutions and corporations use First Call's services. Its products include FIRST CALL Notes, FIRST CALL Research Direct, FIRST CALL Insight, First Call's Real Time Earnings Estimates Database, the FIRST CALL Fundamentals Database, the FIRST CALL Recommendations Database, FIRST CALL Estimates Direct, FIRST CALL BondCall Direct and FIRST CALL Corporate Release. For more information, visit First Call's Web site at www.firstcall.com.

Thomson Financial Services (TFS) is a leading provider of information services and work solutions to the worldwide financial community. TFS employs more than 6,000 people in more than 40 locations dedicated to the success of our clients and is part of The Thomson Corporation. The principal activity of The Thomson Corporation (TTC) is information and publishing, where in 1997 the Group had some 40,000 staff members and a revenue base approaching US$6 billion. TTC's common shares are quoted on the Toronto, Montreal and London stock exchanges. For more information, visit the TFS Web site at www.tfn.com.

    CONTACT: First Call
              Faye Fardshisheh, 617/856-1158
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              Dewe Rogerson
              Jenna Focarino, 212/688-6840