GFInet inc. Joins the Emerging Markets Clearing Corporation; Guy Williamson to Direct GFInet's Emerging Markets Business Initiatives.

Business/Technology Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 8, 2000

GFInet inc. a subsidiary of the GFI Group and a leading inter-dealer broker, today announced that it's clearing arm has been accepted for membership in the Emerging Markets Clearing Corporation (EMCC). GFInet's acceptance into the EMCC makes it only the second inter-dealer broker to be admitted to the organization and will enable GFInet to expand its existing network and Web-based electronic trading system to include the brokering of Brady Bonds.

The EMCC is an industry organization that provides trade matching, clearance, settlement and risk management services to global dealers, inter-dealer brokers and correspondent clearing firms involved in emerging markets debt instruments. Established in 1997, the EMCC was developed to reduce counterparty credit risk, improve operational efficiencies, and lower the costs associated with trading Emerging Market debt instruments.

Guy &uot;Blades&uot; Williamson, who recently joined GFInet as Executive Vice President of the company's Emerging Markets Fixed Income division, will direct GFInet's overall emerging markets business strategy. Williamson will be responsible for implementing Brady Bond brokering into GFInet's electronic trading application as well as managing GFInet's relationship with the EMCC.

Williamson noted, &uot;Gaining membership into the EMCC paves the way for GFInet to start integrating Brady Bonds into its existing emerging markets and electronic trading activities, which ultimately will enable us to offer professional and wholesale traders a more cost-efficient and transparent means of trading Brady Bonds.&uot;

Williamson comes to GFInet from Tullett &Tokyo where he served as a senior vice president in their New York office. Prior to that, Williamson was the senior vice president of Tullett's foreign exchange division in London, Los Angeles, Tokyo and New York.

&uot;GFInet's acceptance into the EMCC adds to our distinction of being the first Alternative Trading System (ATS) to be approved by the NASD operating under new SEC rules and will allow us to add electronic Brady Bond trading to our growing list of brokerage services for the broker-dealer community,&uot; said Michael Gooch, founder and president of GFI Group and GFInet.

Gooch continued, &uot;This latest development brings us one step closer to carrying out GFInet's vision of providing professional and wholesale traders with complete, electronic brokerage services for financial products, commodities, energy, and telecommunications. Under the direction and guidance of Blades Williamson we are confidant that GFInet will succeed in implementing its emerging markets business plan.&uot;

Developed by in-house traders and technology specialists, GFInet's trading technology is designed to mirror the way professional traders actually execute trades. The desktop design is extremely simple to use and customize according to an end user's trading requirements. The GFInet trading system is currently in live operation on GFI Group's Latin American equities desk and is currently being installed at the top two dozen banks and brokerage firms in the U.S. In addition, GFInet's internet-based application offers hundreds of underserved medium and smaller broker/dealers and other financial institutions across the U.S. access to critical real-time information and the ability to trade instantaneously with this information.

About GFInet inc.

GFInet inc., a subsidiary of the GFI Group, controls a cutting-edge e-application that will function from an Internet, Window-based electronic trading platform that mirrors market dynamics. This application will be used for the brokerage of global financial instruments - stocks, bonds, currencies, and derivatives - as well as commodities, energy and telecommunications - and other price-volatile corporate assets. In addition to its trading platform, GFInet offers customers and investors access to proprietary derivatives market data and live, real-time pricing over the Internet. GFInet will be fully implemented no later than the second quarter of 2000.

About the GFI Group

GFI is among the world's leading inter-dealer broker specializing in wholesale market transactions including derivatives, commodities, currencies, and foreign and domestic securities traded among the world's leading financial institutions and energy concerns. Founded in 1987, the firm is now a $100 million company employing more than 300 people worldwide. GFI is recognized as the primary force in providing innovative technological solutions to solve the broking industry's need for marketplace transparency. Headquartered in New York, the GFI Group services customers worldwide from offices in London, Sydney, and Tokyo.