CFA Institute and NIRI Release First-Ever Guidelines for the Analyst-Corporate Issuer Relations.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. & VIENNA, Va. -- A joint CFA Institute and National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI) task force today released final best practice guidelines governing the relationship between securities analysts and the companies they cover.

The guidelines are ethical principles aimed at assisting companies in their efforts to support the independence and objectivity of analysts and to advance a mutually beneficial relationship that is in keeping with the best interests of investors.

CFA Institute, which represents investment professionals worldwide, and NIRI, which represents investor relations professionals in North America, established the joint task force in 2003. The group was composed of analysts and investor relations professionals from Canada, the United States and Europe, and included observers from standard-setting and regulatory organizations. Following thorough discussions, the task force released draft guidelines for international public comment last March.

Samuel B. Jones, Jr., CFA, co-chair of the task force (representing CFA Institute) and senior vice president, chief investment officer and chief compliance officer at Trillium Asset Management Corporation, said, "It is critical to the efficiency and integrity of capital markets that research analysts have timely access to company executives and that analysts in turn publish objective, high quality reports with reasonable recommendations based on factual information."

Samuel J. Levenson, co-chair of the task force (representing NIRI) and senior vice president, corporate and investor relations at Cendant Corporation, said, "A cooperative working environment that fosters open communication in which each profession respects the responsibilities of the other ultimately enables investors to make sound business decisions. NIRI and CFA Institute, with observers from the SEC, NYSE and NASD, undertook this important initiative and authored these guidelines in the interest of all market participants."

Issues addressed in the guidelines include:

--Information flow between analysts and corporate issuers.

--Analysts' conduct in preparing and publishing research reports and making investment recommendations.

--Corporate issuers' conduct in providing analysts with access to corporate management.

--Review of sell-side analyst reports by corporate issuers.

--Research that is solicited, paid or sponsored by the issuer.

The final guidelines state that issuers and analysts must both endeavor to minimize the potential conflicts inherent in issuer-paid research by maximizing transparency and full disclosure. Similarly, the guidelines state that issuer-paid analysts must not trade in the securities of the subject company ahead of the release of a research report.

"These guidelines go a long way to assure an unobstructed flow of corporate information to the investment community. Moreover, the guidelines set important disclosure standards for issuer-paid research as this form of reporting becomes more commonplace. We encourage all companies to prioritize the interests of investors by adopting the guidelines," said Louis M. Thompson, Jr., NIRI president and CEO.

The resulting best practices guidelines have been endorsed and approved by both the NIRI and CFA Institute board of governors.

"Investors' interests are paramount, and these guidelines are meant to reinforce investor access to accurate, complete and impartial information," said Jonathan Boersma, CFA, senior director for professional standards at the CFA Centre for Financial Market Integrity. He added, "While they are voluntary guidelines, the underlying core principles of the guidelines parallel certain requirements in both the CFA Institute and NIRI codes of conduct and standards of practice."

The guidelines can be found at www.cfainstitute.org/standards/GuidelinesforAnalystsandIssuers.html or http://www.niri.org/irresource_pubs/CFAI-NIRIGuidelines.cfm.

About CFA Institute

CFA Institute is the global, non-profit professional association that administers the Chartered Financial Analyst(R) (CFA(R)) curriculum and examination program worldwide and, through its CFA Centre for Financial Market Integrity, sets voluntary, ethics-based professional and performance-reporting standards for the investment industry. Its membership includes the world's 62,000 CFA charterholders, as well as 130 affiliated professional societies in 51 countries and territories. CFA Institute is headquartered in Charlottesville, Va., USA, with additional offices in London and Hong Kong. CFA Institute was known as AIMR (Association for Investment Management and Research) from 1990 to early 2004, and before that was two separate organizations whose roots go back to 1947. More information may be found at www.cfainstitute.org.

About NIRI

NIRI is the professional association of corporate officers and investor relations consultants responsible for communications among corporate management, shareholders, security analysts and other financial publics. NIRI's 4,400 members represent over 2,500 publicly held companies in the United States. As its mission states, "NIRI is dedicated to advancing the practice of investor relations and the professional competency and stature of its members."