Central Bank of Argentina installs United States-produced investment management software.

Software announced today that the Central Bank of the Argentine Republic, headquartered in Buenos Aires, will install PORTIA, the world's leading portfolio management system in combination with PORTIALinx, the global electronic securities settlement and reconciliation service, to manage its national reserves and completely automate its financial transactions.

The PORTIA system manages worldwide portfolios representing more than one trillion in U.S. dollars.

For the emerging market central bank, specific guidelines, benchmarks and objectives are set annually by its board of directors. For most central banks, close monitoring of these guidelines is nearly impossible since the country's reserves are managed by an array of external money managers who notify the central bank of their investments only once the trades actually settle. In Argentina, the PORTIALinx system provides a live link from custodian banks to the central bank on trade date -- allowing careful scrutiny prior to settlement. Moreover, the PORTIA system offers a real-time compliance checking module, allowing the central bank to ensure that all trades accord with these guidelines -- both saving time and eliminating errors.

Pre-settlement analysis and rapid settlement of trades are vital in emerging markets, where markets move quickly and where T+2 settlement is quite common. Pre-settlement compliance checking closes the geographical distance from major markets, thus allowing local managers to react to market developments in a timely way to reduce risk.

PORTIA will provide the Central Bank of Argentina with compliance checking, position and exposure reporting. The combination of PORTIA and PORTIALinx will provide the timely conununication of trades from external money managers to the Central Bank of Argentina. Together, they will help eliminate the Central Bank's risk by putting the burden of compliance on external money managers, thus ensuring trade settlement and increasing the Central Bank's performance.

Believed to be the first of its kind, this agreement marks the first time that the PORTLALinx service has been used in the middle of the transaction cycle to ensure compliance before settlement rather than after. In the Central Bank of Argentina's situation, PORTIALinx serves as an automatic download for transactions and holdings into PORTIA which intercedes between the trade and settlement process to assure that all transactions meet with compliance before the settlement process is initiated. This new process will ensure that the risk-reducing guidelines of the Central Bank are in fact carried out in practice.

"By choosing a unique blending of PORTIA and PORTIALinx for financial and investment transactions, the Central Bank of Argentina will significantly increase its performance, as well as eliminate risk and mistake issues," said Gail Schulman, president of Thomson Investment Software. "The PORTIA/PORTIALinx solution represents the depth of commitment that Argentina is making to the financial conununity."

PORTIA is the investment industry's leading portfolio management system, automating the trading, analysis and operations of more than 300 money managers worldwide. PORTIA is the flagship product of Thomson Investment Software (TIS), which offers a range of high-quality, flexible software and services that enhance investment management and operations.

Thomson Investment Software is a unit of Thomson Financial Services, a leading provider of financial information, research, analysis and software to the global investment and corporate communities. Part of The Thomson Corp., a $6-billion company based in Toronto, Canada, Thomson Financial Services employs more than 3,400 people in nearly 40 offices worldwide.

CONTACT: Thomson Investment Software

Robert Leaper, [phone]

or

Jenifer May, [phone]