Thomson TradeWeb Launches Euro Interest Rate Swaps Platform

• First to Provide Electronic Auction-Based Trading for IRS Market
• Top Liquidity Providers Spearhead First Multi-Dealer System
• Strong Support from TradeWeb's Buy-side Institutional Customer Base

LONDON (9 February 2005) - Thomson TradeWeb, the leading network of online fixed-income markets, and a unit of The Thomson Corporation (NYSE: TOC; TSX: TOC), today announced it has teamed up with six major liquidity providers to launch Euro Interest Rate Swaps trading on the first multi-dealer platform of its kind.

The founding members for Thomson TradeWeb's dealer-to-client Swaps platform include JPMorgan, Barclays Capital, Morgan Stanley, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, HSBC and

ABN AMRO, and more liquidity providers are set to join the platform in the coming weeks. The Swaps platform will be rolled out initially to a select group of European buy-side institutions, followed shortly by TradeWeb's full buy-side customer base and the rest of the institutional market.

TradeWeb's proven technology will enable greater operational efficiency, risk reduction and market transparency for both the buy and sell-side communities. By using a 'request for quote' model (RFQ), institutional investors can simultaneously request a price from up to three dealers and move from electronic execution to a full ISDA compliant electronic confirmation. This is enabled by TradeWeb's leading Straight-Through Processing (STP) network, contributing to significantly lower operational costs for customers.

Lee Olesky, President of Thomson TradeWeb, commented: "Working closely with the leading Swaps liquidity providers and our global client base, TradeWeb's Swaps platform allows the analysis, execution and ISDA confirmation of Swaps - simply and electronically. This is a natural evolutionary step for us, leveraging our experience from the 10 electronically traded products already on the network. In January alone, we averaged over $135 billion daily volume across the TradeWeb platform in all products '' He continued "We expect to roll out more functionality and other currencies to our interest rate swaps product over the course of the year"

Bill Winters Co-Chief Executive Officer of the Investment Bank at JPMorgan, said:

"We are pleased to be providing our clients with the ability to trade interest rate swaps electronically, increasing efficiency and transparency with less operational cost. As a market leader in derivatives, we have supported TradeWeb since the inception of their platform, consistent with JPMorgan's commitment to continued innovation in the derivatives market."

Eric Bommensath, Head of Fixed Income Derivatives and Government Bond Trading at Barclays Capital, said: "As the global leader of electronic trading in Swaps, Barclays Capital has seen first-hand the benefits and opportunities that electronic execution can create for the global swap market. We are pleased to offer our clients this additional access to our established market-leading liquidity."

Mike Powell, Head of HSBC Global Markets, Europe and the Middle East, commented:

"HSBC's e-strategy is to provide liquidity where and when our clients want it. Our decision to support the new TradeWeb Swaps platform demonstrates our commitment to deliver greater choice to our clients."

Robert Lempka, Managing Director, Head of Euro Flow Trading at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein added: "Providing liquidity to Dresdner's customers over TradeWeb is an important part of our rates strategy. We've had a very good experience with TradeWeb on the bond side and we are convinced this will continue with the new Swaps product."

Paul Humphrey, Global Head of Fixed Income eBusiness at ABN AMRO, said: "We are happy to be part of the founding IRS group with TradeWeb, which will provide customers with efficient, electronic access to our interest rate swap liquidity. Given the rapid growth and commoditisation of the derivatives markets, and the consequent development and acceptance of electronic trading platforms, we believe that this move will help us provide our customers with the transparency they demand."

The new platform is also strongly supported by the buy-side community:

Jérôme Olivier, Head of Trading and Jérôme Guiot-Dorel, Head of Swaps at BRED Banque Populaire, commented: " We have always been satisfied by the electronic trading platform provided by TradeWeb on bonds. We are happy to see the TradeWeb launch for the Swaps market and are very confident in it. The major players as liquidity providers are very likely to make it a success. We look forward to participating on the system."

Andreas Bamberg, Head of Derivatives at Dekabank said: "We believe this move is very timely. The Interest Rate Swaps market's phenomenal growth over the past few years, means the opportunity for increased market transparency and efficiency through a platform like TradeWeb, is a very exciting prospect indeed."

NOTE TO EDITORS:

The multi-dealer platform will allow trading and confirmation in 3-month and 6-month EURIBOR and in EONIA (the Euro overnight index average), spot, forward and curve trades.

ISDA is the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, founded in 1985 by 18 dealers, to develop standard terms and documentation for interest rate swaps.

About Thomson TradeWeb

TradeWeb is the leading online fixed-income trading network with over 6 million trades executed and total volume surpassing $67 trillion since its inception in 1998. TradeWeb's multi-dealer auction model links the trading desks of 32 of the world's leading fixed-income dealers with more than 1,800 buy-side in North America, Europe and Asia.

The business is also the leading electronic "straight-through processing" network for the fixed-income markets, providing dealers and buy-side institutions with paperless trade allocations and confirmations on its fully integrated TradeXpress network. TradeWeb's STP network also includes AccountNet, the leading standard settlement instructions database.

Thomson TradeWeb operates within the Thomson Financial group of businesses. TradeWeb LLC is a member of the NASD. TradeWeb Europe Limited is regulated by the U.K. Financial Services Authority.

About Thomson Financial

Thomson Financial is a US$1.5 billion provider of information and technology solutions to the worldwide financial community. Through the widest range of products and services in the industry, Thomson Financial helps clients in more than 70 countries make better decisions, be more productive and achieve superior results. Thomson Financial is part of The Thomson Corporation (www.thomson.com), a leading provider of value-added information, software tools and applications to more than 20 million users in the fields of law, tax, accounting, financial services, higher education, reference information, corporate training and assessment, scientific research and healthcare. With revenues of US$7.44 billion, The Thomson Corporation lists its common shares on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges (NYSE: TOC; TSX: TOC.)