TradeWeb Reports Record 1st Quarter Volume

-- Trading Volume $5.4 Trillion - Up 42% Over Previous Year -- 

JERSEY CITY/LONDON (April 8, 2004) - TradeWeb, the leader in online fixed-income trading, today announced that during the first quarter of 2004, institutional investors traded a record $5.4 trillion in fixed-income securities on its global platform, up 42% from the same period last year and a 15% increase on the fourth quarter of 2003. The volume growth was distributed across the entire range of ten online fixed-income markets available on TradeWeb's global network.

Average daily volume rose to over $85 billion. Trades over $100 million now represent 47% of total volume indicating a wide acceptance of electronic trading by institutional investors to execute larger trades. In fact, a $5 billion dollar trade - the largest ever done over TradeWeb - was executed during this past quarter. Furthermore, growing adoption of TradeWeb's straight-through processing functionality by both dealers and buy-side customers resulted in a 41% increase in allocated trade ticket volume in the first quarter over the same quarter the previous year.

"We are off to a very strong start in 2004. TradeWeb is extending its lead as the largest source of online liquidity between dealers and their customers. Combined with our premium real-time market data and STP services we are building a unique workflow solution for our customers," said Jim Toffey, CEO of TradeWeb. "In the next quarter we will expand our product offering with the launch of U.S. Corporate Bonds, an innovative execution platform that is one step ahead of what is currently available in the marketplace."

Lee Olesky, CEO of TradeWeb Europe added: "Trading activity continues to surge in European trading products, with record volumes of $432 billion up a staggering 63% on the same period in 2003. We are particularly delighted with the runaway success of the U.K. Gilts platform, launched on 21 January 2004 - with trading volume for March showing a 51% increase on the previous month at £4.7 billion."

Growth spans multiple product sectors. Key highlights:

U.S. Treasury and Agency Debt: Growing customer acceptance and rising market share boosted TradeWeb U.S. Treasury and Agency trading volumes to $1.9 trillion - a new record - up 47% from 1st Quarter '03 volume. U.S. Treasuries volume accounted for a third of TradeWeb's total volume for the quarter. TradeWeb's new Callable Agency product has gained widespread market acceptance with nearly $6 billion in securities being traded over TradeWeb during the 1st quarter.

TBA-MBS: Volume in TradeWeb TBA-MBS continued to soar exceeding $1.7 trillion, up 65% from last year. TradeWeb TBA-MBS volume now represents about a third of TradeWeb's global volume.

Money Markets: Although commercial paper issuance continued to decline, TradeWeb Money Markets share increased with total volume for CP and Discount Notes reaching $1.3 trillion for the quarter, up 11% from the fist quarter of last year.

European Governments: TradeWeb European Government's trading volume experienced tremendous growth hitting nearly $390 billion this quarter - a 55% increase over 1st Quarter '03 and a new record.

During the first quarter, TradeWeb also added three new liquidity providers to the network: Unicredit Banca Mobiliare (UBM), WestLB and Countrywide Securities Corporation. TradeWeb also achieved a significant milestone in delivering STP to the bond markets with the addition of functionality for allocating and confirming phone-executed trades.

About TradeWeb

TradeWeb is the leading online fixed-income trading network with over 5 million trades executed and total volume surpassing $43 trillion since its inception in 1998. TradeWeb's multi-dealer auction model links 27 of the world's leading dealers of fixed-income securities with more than 1,500 buy-side institutions in North America and Europe.

The company is the premier provider of fixed-income market data for the liquid fixed-income securities traded on its network. TradeWeb 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 TradeXpressSM network. TradeWeb's STP network also includes AccountNet®, the leading standing settlement instructions (SSI) database and internet driven network.

For more information about TradeWeb products and services, please visit the company's website at www.tradeweb.com or contact Jack Mahoney in the U.S. at (201) 536 5878 or Helena Rowe in Europe at +44 (0) 20 7776 3263.