Brown & Company Introduces Low $5 Mutual Fund Transaction Fee; JPMorgan Chase's Deep-Discount Broker Extends its $5 Price Offering to Mutual Fund Online Orders.

Business & Investment Editors

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 28, 2001

Brown & Company, the deep-discount brokerage unit of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM), announced that it has lowered its mutual fund transaction fee from $19 to $5 for orders placed online.

The transaction fees are in addition to fees and expenses disclosed in the fund prospectus and includes all No loads funds bought, sold or exchanged online and all Load funds sold or exchanged online. Load funds remain $0.00 per buy order. The new pricing matches the brokerage's already low online base commission rates for equities and options including $5 for equity market orders and $5 for options market orders (plus $1.50 per contract, $15 minimum).

In addition to the new mutual fund transaction fee, Brown & Company offers a wide selection of Mutual Funds online including over 200 fund families and more than 6,500 Load and No Load funds. Newly enhanced trading screens allow customers to obtain multiple quotes at one time and quickly trade funds online.

"Brown & Company has consistently led the brokerage industry in low-cost pricing," said Kelly Mathieson, senior vice president for marketing at Brown & Company. "The $5 Mutual Fund transaction fee is extremely competitive and is part of our strategy to offer the right combination of pricing and value to our experienced customer base."

Brown & Company (www.brownco.com) was recently named "Best of the Web" by Forbes.com in its annual survey (February 2001) and ranked #1 for Overall Excellence in Bankrate.com's Online Brokerage Survey (2001). Brown & Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., is the seventh largest online brokerage firm nationwide. Brown & Company is a deep discount broker for experienced investors who make their own investment decisions, and who are willing and able to manage their own accounts. It is headquartered in Boston, Mass.

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. is a leading global financial services firm with assets of over $700 billion and operations in more than 50 countries. With relationships with over 99% of the Fortune 1000 companies, the firm is a leader in investment banking, asset management, private banking, private equity, custody and transaction services, retail and middle market financial services, and e-finance. A component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, JPMorgan Chase is headquartered in New York and serves more than 30 million consumer customers and the world's most prominent corporate, institutional and government clients. Information about JPMorgan Chase is available on the internet at www.jpmorganchase.com.