Citigroup and Virtus Partners Announce Joint Marketing Relationship for CDO Market.

NEW YORK -- Global Transaction Services, a business unit of Citigroup Corporate and Investment Banking, and Virtus Partners, LLC, a recently formed company providing administrative and analytical services to the fixed-income market, announced their relationship to jointly provide trustee and collateral administrative services to the collateralized debt obligation (CDO) marketplace in the United States, beginning in early 2006.

Citibank(R) Agency and Trust, a business within Citigroup Corporate and Investment Banking, is a preeminent provider of trustee, account bank and custodial services and has provided corporate trust services for more than 100 years. Virtus Partners was founded on the premise that the combination of traditional collateral administrative services and advanced software-analytics through a seamless, real-time delivery mechanism will meet the market's needs for superior collateral administrative services. By separating traditional trustee duties from collateral administration, Virtus Partners can more effectively focus on providing best-in-class administrative services to collateral management firms beyond compliance testing and standard reporting.

Karen Montbach, managing director and product manager of the Agency and Trust business, is enthusiastic about the relationship and said, "The CDO market continues to expand and change, creating opportunity for Agency and Trust and Virtus Partners. Our relationship with Virtus Partners and our entry into the U.S. CDO market are an important part of our strategy to provide value to our U.S. clients."

Similarly, Joe Elston, Virtus' managing director for sales and marketing, said, "We are very excited about the numerous possibilities and tailored solutions that our relationship with Citigroup will provide the fixed-income market. This new approach, undoubtedly, will engender a different perspective and strategic outlook for market participants about how and what administrative services should be."

Citigroup and Virtus will begin joint marketing in January 2006.

For more information on Citigroup Agency and Trust programs and industry trends and developments, please visit www.agencyandtrust.citibank.com.

About Citigroup

Citigroup (NYSE: C), the leading global financial services company has some 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 100 countries, providing consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, and wealth management. Major brand names under Citigroup's trademark red umbrella include Citibank, CitiFinancial, Primerica, Smith Barney and Banamex. Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com.

About Citigroup Corporate and Investment Banking

Our Corporate and Investment Banking group achieves the extraordinary for our clients around the world. No financial institution is more committed to understanding and advancing the goals of its clients - our diverse and talented staff in some 100 countries advises companies, governments, and institutional investors on the best way to realize their strategic objectives. We create solutions for and provide the broadest possible capital and market access to thousands of issuer and investor clients, and no institution better executes the increasingly complex payment and cash management solutions required in today's global economy. Core business lines under Citigroup Corporate and Investment Banking include Global Capital Markets, Global Banking and Global Transaction Services.

About Virtus Partners, LLC

Virtus Partners, LLC is a newly formed entity that provides administrative services and analytical assessments for fixed-income transactions and investments. Formed in May 2005, Virtus offers three broad services - Collateral Administration, Middle Office Services (back-office outsourcing for asset managers), and Portfolio Analytics (including but not limited to data stratification, correlation and historical trend analyses) through a real-time and web-based engine. Integral to the Virtus proposition is the separation of traditional corporate trustee duties (income collection, payment agent, note registrar, etc...) from Collateral Administration that allows specialization (expertise resides where it is most effective) and enhances the development of innovative administrative services. Additional information may be found at www.virtusllc.com.