JapanCross Securities Achieves YEN 3 Trillion in Liquidity.

Business Editors

TOKYO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 19, 2002

JapanCross Securities Co., Ltd., today announced that it has achieved an aggregate liquidity pool exceeding 3 trillion yen since the start of its equity crossing services November 28, 2001 through September 18, 2002. The liquidity pool is the total value of orders submitted to JapanCross by clients, either directly or through a broker who has an account with JapanCross. JapanCross only matches client orders and does not engage in any trading for its own account.

JapanCross has maintained an average daily liquidity pool of approximately 2.1% of the daily turnover on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, with peaks as high as 9.4%, and has received orders in almost 1200 different stocks. A high daily liquidity pool means that clients have a better chance of an execution, while orders in nearly 1200 different names demonstrate the breadth of the liquidity pool.

"The numbers show that considerable demand exists for access to alternative pools of liquidity in the Japanese equity market," said George Thomas, CEO of JapanCross. "By focusing liquidity in a neutral, anonymous venue at specific times, we enable our customers to significantly reduce their overall trading costs."

JapanCross anonymously matches clients wishing to buy and sell Japanese equities. The concept is different from a traditional broker in that JapanCross does not seek out buyers or sellers (i.e., does not "shop" orders). JapanCross aims to improve the liquidity available to all clients by striving to increase the number of participants in each anonymous crossing session.

Another critical component of attracting liquidity is continually enhancing connectivity options available to customers. JapanCross is currently offering FIX connectivity for orders and executions using FIX versions 4.0 - 4.2. "FIX is yet another step in the evolution of the scalable, high performance connectivity infrastructure that JapanCross offers its customers in Japan and from other countries around the globe," added Thomas, mentioning that JapanCross was Japan's first brokerage firm to deploy a 100% IP telephony infrastructure. "Our business is a technology oriented securities business, and we constantly leverage technology in order to better serve our clients in their quest for improved execution quality."

JapanCross currently offers two crosses during the Japanese trading day:

-- Pre-open VWAP, at 8:15am Tokyo time

-- Morning Close Cross, at 11:30 Tokyo time

In the future, the firm plans to offer additional crosses to suit client needs.

Launched in November 2001, JapanCross Securities is an independent agency-only brokerage firm formed by a joint venture between Instinet Corporation and Nikko Salomon Smith Barney. JapanCross matches natural buyers and sellers of Japanese equities at market-determined benchmark prices. The company's electronic trading service aggregates order flow at specific times and executes periodic matches. JapanCross provides domestic and overseas institutions investing in Japanese equities access to an efficient execution service that has been utilized by investors around the world. All orders are treated equally, regardless of size or customer, providing equal access to liquidity.

Note to Editors: JapanCross Securities Co., Ltd. is a securities broker registered in Japan. It is an independent broker created by a 50:50 joint venture between Instinet International Corporation and Nikko Salomon Smith Barney Limited, a securities broker registered in Japan. Not intended as an offer or solicitation with respect to the purchase or sale of any security. INSTINET and the INSTINET mark are registered service marks in the United States and in other countries throughout the world.