Financial and technology firms commit to FpML
as new derivatives e-commerce standard

Firms join technical committee to advance XML-based
protocol; educational seminars in August

Fifteen firms, including market participants, professional services providers, software vendors, and system integrators, have announced the formation of a technical committee for the FpML (Financial products Markup Langauge) standard announced last month. These firms have committed to working on the technical committee and supporting the use of the FpML protocol within the derivatives industry.

Today’s announcement confirms FpML’s emergence as the business-to-business e-commerce standard for derivatives. Based on XML, the emerging Internet standard for data-sharing between applications, the FpML protocol enables Internet-based integration of a range of services, from electronic trading and confirmations to portfolio specification for risk analysis. Members of the technical committee agree to help create a complete, XML-based standard upon which firms can communicate in the wholesale derivatives market.

The following firms announced their participation in the technical committee: co-developers J.P. Morgan & Co. Incorporated and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.; from the financial sector, Banque Nationale de Paris SA, Chase Manhattan Corp., Credit Suisse First Boston, Deutsche Bank AG, Lehman Brothers Inc., Merrill Lynch & Co., Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, and Freddie Mac; and from the technology sector, International Business Machines Corp., Infinity — A SunGard Company, Integral, Sybase, Inc., and webMethods.

"J.P. Morgan is widely recognized as a global leader in the derivatives marketplace and is uniquely capable of driving FpML as a new standard for structured products trading and communications," said Michon Schenck, Sybase’s vice president for financial services. "Sybase will take a leadership position in driving adoption of FpML globally and will incorporate this powerful new protocol into Sybase Financial Server, our e-commerce platform for capital markets applications."

The technical committee will sponsor a series of workshops and seminars, beginning in August, to help market participants, software vendors, consulting firms, dealers, and industry trade groups understand, adopt, and use FpML. For more information on the workshops or on the FpML language itself, visit www.fpml.org.

J.P. Morgan & Co. Incorporated is a leading global financial firm that meets critical financial needs for business enterprises, governments, and individuals. The firm advises on corporate strategy and structure, raises capital, makes markets in financial instruments, and manages investment assets. Morgan also commits its own capital to promising enterprises and invests and trades to capture market opportunities.

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