Thomson TradeWeb Reports Record First Quarter; Global Volume Exceeds $12 Trillion, Up 42% From Q1 2005

JERSEY CITY/LONDON (April 12, 2006) - Thomson TradeWeb, part of The Thomson Corporation (NYSE: TOC; TSX: TOC), a major global provider of integrated information solutions to professional customers, today announced that TradeWeb, the leading global network of online fixed-income and derivatives markets, reported $12.9 trillion in total volume executed by its market participants in the first quarter, a 42% or $3.8 trillion increase over the same period in 2005. This impressive growth was driven by strong performance across the U.S. and Europe. Especially noteworthy were the new businesses, particularly Euro and US$ Interest Rate Swaps, and the U.S. Corporate Bond market.

"We have continued to strengthen our position with the launch of several new marketplaces. A good indication of the broad acceptance of TradeWeb is the size of the individual trades being executed across the global network. During this past quarter, close to 70% of TradeWeb's global trade volume came from transactions of $100 million or greater in size," said Jim Toffey, Chief Executive of Thomson TradeWeb.

"TradeWeb has for some time been the gold standard for online dealer-to-client fixed-income trading. We are especially pleased that we are now well on the way to establishing the same leading position in the derivatives markets," said Lee Olesky, President of Thomson TradeWeb.

Selected highlights: 

Interest Rate Swaps: Euro Interest Rate Swaps trading volumes rose by 109% compared to Q1 2005. Total Interest Rate Swaps trading increased by 230% in the same period, following the launch of the US$ swaps marketplace in September 2005.

Corporates: A breakthrough quarter for TradeWeb's corporate business. Customers have been consistently posting new business on the marketplace, driving an impressive 218% increase in trading versus 2005. Average trade size increased by over 25%, compared to the previous quarter.

TBA-Mortgage-Backed Securities: Volume on TradeWeb's largest market grew by 7% in the first quarter, compared to Q1 2005. TradeWeb now averages over $60bn in daily trading volume and is easily the largest electronic marketplace for TBA-MBS trading.

UK Gilts: A strong quarter for UK Gilt trading, with volumes surging by 79%, helped spur the growth of TradeWeb's European government bond marketplace.

Commercial Paper: A record quarter in Europe and the U.S., with gains of 25% posted in both regions, compared to Q1 2005. Over $2 trillion was traded in Euro and US Commercial Paper in the first quarter 2006.

Canada: Average daily volume for Canadian clients increased by 249% in the past six months, following a landmark agreement between TradeWeb and CanDeal, the leading dealer-to-institutional client marketplace for Canadian securities. There are now nearly 100 U.S. and Canadian clients trading Canadian securities. Under the terms of the alliance, Canadian clients can now trade a wide range of TradeWeb's U.S. and European markets, while U.S. clients have access to Canadian securities through CanDeal.

Electronic trade processing over TradeWeb's leading straight-through processing network also posted strong gains during this most recent quarter.

TradeXpress: Allocation volume topped $6.5 trillion, up 118% over Q1 2005. Over 480,000 allocation tickets were processed, an increase of 25% over the previous year. Electronic links are now in place with 52 major buy-side customers, twice as many as a year ago.

About Thomson TradeWeb

TradeWeb is the leading online fixed-income trading network with over nine million trades executed and total volume surpassing $120 trillion since its inception in 1998. TradeWeb's multi-dealer auction model links the trading desks of 36 of the world's leading fixed-income dealers with more than 2,200 buy-side institutions in North America, Europe, and Asia. Over $200 billion in trading volume gets executed over TradeWeb each day.

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 first derivatives counterparty management tool and the leading data warehouse for standing settlement instructions and OTC derivatives legal documentation.

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, with 2005 revenues of US$1.9 billion, is a 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 global leader in providing integrated information solutions to more than 20 million business and professional customers in the fields of law, tax, accounting, financial services, higher education, reference information, corporate e-learning and assessment, scientific research and healthcare. With revenues of US$8.70 billion, The Thomson Corporation lists its common shares on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges (NYSE: TOC; TSX: TOC).