FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

19 November 2002 -- New York

Brian Lynn, a driving force behind the creation of FpML.org and formerly VP of eTrading Systems at JPMorgan Chase and Co., announced today the formation of Gem Soup LLC, the world's first organization devoted to collaborative development of software tools supporting FpML communications between firms. From 1999 until this month Mr. Lynn was co-chair of and JPMorgan's representative to FpML's important Standards Committee.

Gill Lungley, MD and Global Head of IT at UBS Warburg, said: "FpML has become increasingly vital in enabling key market initiatives, such as Swapswire. The provision of new tools will further promote FpML and thus support ongoing creation of these important industry initiatives."

"By sharing the development of the key integration technologies," Mr. Lynn said, "industry participants and providers can speed the adoption of inter-company STP in derivatives." Commenting on the evolution of FpML, Mr. Lynn said, "Over the last several years there has been a rapid increase in the breadth and maturity of the FpML standard, and in the deployment of FpML within firms. However, it has only been recently that we have started to see growth in the use of FpML between companies. Gem Soup will accelerate that trend by making FpML easy to use and easy to integrate with existing business processes. "

Gem Soup LLC will develop or acquire initial versions of its products, and will provide its members with a collaboration environment, product strategy guidance, an automated testing suite, a rigorous release control process, and product documentation and support. Gem Soup members will contribute enhancements and fixes, provide input on priorities, and incorporate the tools into their own systems and business processes.

Products that are currently planned include an FpML viewer/editor, a simple FpML API, a matching tool, a trade archive, and message validators and converters. Many of these will be based on simple product templates, which will make them easy to customize for new financial products. Several will be available in low-cost versions to support application development.

"Interest in this initiative across the derivatives industry has been tremendous," Mr. Lynn said. "Market participants are telling us that the value principle is outstanding, the timing is right, and our products are essential." Mr. Lynn added that Gem Soup is currently discussing product priorities with initial adopters, and expects shortly to announce more detailed priorities and agreements.

Financial Products Markup Language is the official protocol of ISDA (the International Swaps and Derivatives Association) for describing privately negotiated financial derivative transactions.

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