Bear Stearns Expands Precious Metals Group Globally; Commodities Business Extends to 24-Hours with Hires in Europe and Asia.

NEW YORK -- Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc. announced today its precious metals group has expanded to a global, full-service hard asset business through several key hires and new product capabilities.

Since its formation in January, the precious metals group has hired several experts to build the operation into a 24-hour, client-driven business with trading and sales specialists in New York, London and Hong Kong. To expand its transaction capabilities for clients, Bear Stearns also became a member of the London Bullion Market Association in April and the London Platinum and Palladium Market in August. The firm is a full member of the Commodity Exchange, Inc. and the Chicago Board of Trade.

"I am thrilled that we were able to jump-start the precious metals business by using our foreign exchange infrastructure. Leveraging this platform and the commitment we received from senior management has allowed us to build a global business in a relatively short period of time," said David Schoenthal, a senior managing director of Bear Stearns and the head of Foreign Exchange and Metals. "Our new hires will enable us to elevate to the next level."

Among the new hires, Robert Cameron joins Bear Stearns as a managing director to head spot trading in New York. He was most recently at Mitsubishi Metals Trading Corp. and has traded metals for more than 15 years. Gary Spencer joins as managing director in charge of options trading. He spent more than 15 years in commodity and FX option trading at JP Morgan. Edward Bases joins as managing director to run hedge fund sales. He was most recently at Deutsche Bank and has more than 15 years of experience in the metals business. Charles Bingham joins as a managing director for structured products and risk management. He was head of commodities trading at JP Morgan and has more than 20 years of experience in the field.

Bryan O'Rear has been named managing director to run options trading and PGM group metals out of London. He recently joined from Deutsche Bank in London. In addition, two new hires have joined the precious metals effort in Hong Kong. David Wong formerly of AIG Trading and JP Morgan will run marketing while Greg Fan joined from Sun Hung Kai and Deutsche Bank will head trading.

"We are pleased that we were able to attract top-caliber professionals who will provide our customers with innovative approaches and efficient market execution," said Robert Gottlieb, a managing director of Bear Stearns and the head of the Precious Metals Group. "As our clients expand into the commodities markets, we will leverage the resources at Bear Stearns to provide them with a hard asset strategy including a diversified portfolio of metals and mining equities, ETFs, futures, structured products and OTC commodity positions."

The metals group focuses on gold, silver, platinum and palladium transactions for clients, who are mainly comprised of central banks and agencies, mining companies, multi-national corporations, mid-level financial institutions and high net worth individuals in addition to hedge, mutual and other investment funds. In addition to transacting in the spot, forwards, options, swaps and structured products markets, Bear Stearns recently became a major underwriter and trader of both gold and silver Exchange Traded Funds on the New York Stock Exchange and American Stock and Options Exchange.

Founded in 1923, Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc. is a leading investment banking and securities trading and brokerage firm, and the major subsidiary of The Bear Stearns Companies Inc. (NYSE:BSC). With approximately $58.4 billion in total capital, Bear Stearns serves governments, corporations, institutions and individuals worldwide. The company's business includes corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions, institutional equities and fixed income sales and trading, securities research, private client services, derivatives, foreign exchange and metals, and futures sales and trading, asset management and custody services. Through Bear, Stearns Securities Corp., it offers financing, securities lending, clearing and technology solutions to hedge funds, broker-dealers and investment advisors. Headquartered in New York City, the company has approximately 12,500 employees worldwide. For additional information about Bear Stearns, please visit the firm's website at www.bearstearns.com.