DTCC Announces Unprecedented Boost in Daily Processing Capacity.

Ensuring Safety & Soundness Against Record Trading Volumes & Volatility

NEW YORK -- The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) announced today an unprecedented expansion of its daily processing capacity for its equities clearing corporation subsidiary, to 280 million transactions, several multiples of the highest volume ever experienced.

This 77% increase in capacity (from 160 million transactions) underscores DTCC's commitment to handle unpredictable spikes in trading volume due to market expansion or volatility--and safeguarding the safety and soundness of financial markets.

On July 26, one of the largest trading days in history, DTCC's National Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCC) subsidiary readily handled a new record of nearly 93 million equity transactions from all major U.S. exchanges, regional stock exchanges and ECNs (electronic communications networks). This record volume surpassed the roughly 77 million transactions on February 27 by 21%, and topped by 85% the 2006 peak day of 50 million transactions.

"Global confidence in the strength and safety of U.S. capital markets rests in part on the reliability and adaptability of DTCC's processing systems," said William B. Aimetti, DTCC's chief operating officer. "Our seamless management of record volume increases and our forward-looking capabilities to expand capacity demonstrate time and again our continuing commitment to prepare for unprecedented growth and other risk factors affecting the global marketplace."

During the first half of 2007, NSCC volume averaged 51 million transactions each day, compared to the peak day in 2006 of 50 million transactions.

NSCC's activity is reported as transactions processed, while the market volume is calculated in terms of shares traded. A single NSCC transaction can be for any amount of shares and represents the buy-side or sell-side of a trade. Transactions in the first half of 2007 have averaged 758 shares. Given that the July 26 total share volume traded on the U.S. exchanges totaled 10.59 billion shares, the latest capacity increase strengthens the NSCC systems far beyond the demands of whatever stresses trading volume may place on the U.S. infrastructure.

Redundancy and resilience characterize the expanding DTCC infrastructure. Multiple DTCC data centers and operating sites throughout the U.S. and overseas, and a highly resilient telecom network, ensure market safety and business continuity in the face of emerging threats and potential disaster scenarios.

In addition to providing and expanding the trade reporting and processing infrastructure that serves major broker/dealers, banks and the exchanges, DTCC meets the challenge of increased volumes and volatility by expanding its risk management group's capacity as well to keep pace with volume growth. Every incoming trade passes through NSCC's rigorous risk management system that monitors the markets, identifies a number of risk factors and ensures that members have sufficient funds on deposit to cover intra-day price moves.

NSCC's Continuous Net Settlement (CNS) lowers the risk for market participants by reducing the financial obligations requiring settlement through netting. For example, the $2.09 trillion value of the 92.8 million transactions processed on the July 26 record day netted down 99%, requiring the settlement of only $26.9 billion, and only a single position movement for each firm in each security they traded on that day.

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About DTCC

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), through its subsidiaries, provides clearance, settlement and information services for equities, corporate and municipal bonds, government and mortgage-backed securities and over-the-counter derivatives. In addition, DTCC is a leading processor of mutual funds and insurance transactions, linking funds and carriers with their distribution networks. DTCC's depository provides custody and asset servicing for 2.8 million securities issues from the United States and 100 other countries and territories, valued at $36 trillion. Last year, DTCC settled more than $1.5 quadrillion in securities transactions. DTCC has operating facilities in multiple locations in the United States and overseas. For more information on DTCC, visit www.dtcc.com.