Market Axess Launches Trading Platform and Adds Credit Suisse First Boston and Lehman Brothers as Strategic Partners.

Combined Market Share In Target Global Credit Products Establishes

Leadership Role

NEW YORK, Sept. 8 /PRNewswire/ --

Market Axess today launched the world's most comprehensive fixed income trading platform and announced the addition of Credit Suisse First Boston and Lehman Brothers as strategic partners. Market Axess is transforming fixed income markets by creating the market standard global trading platform for connecting institutional investors with leading securities dealers.

With the addition of two more global fixed income leaders, Market Axess' combined market share in its target credit products totals approximately 40%. At launch, the platform has 750 corporate bond issues, and over $5 billion in available inventory.

The Market Axess model offers the following benefits:

-- Efficiency - Faster, customized access to information and trade

execution

-- Research - Includes more than 3,000 research reports

-- Product range - Comprehensive and growing range of global fixed income

products

-- Market share - Market Axess dealers have approximately 40% share across

target fixed income markets

-- Price competitiveness - Simultaneous price discovery across dealers

-- Liquidity - Commitment of dealer capital to provide institutional

investors with a central trading place

-- Improved price transparency - Commingled new issue and secondary

markets

-- Exportable audit trails and trade confirmations

Market Axess, Chief Executive Officer Richard McVey, stated, "Our market leading dealer partners are bringing solutions to the fixed income market that benefit all participants. The power of aggregation of product capabilities and liquidity delivered over the Internet makes Market Axess an essential destination for all institutional investors."

Lehman Brothers and Credit Suisse First Boston Join Market Axess Board

Lehman Brothers and Credit Suisse First Boston will actively influence Market Axess' global strategy through their involvement in the Board of Directors. They join Bear Stearns, Chase, Deutsche Bank and LabMorgan, the e-finance unit of J.P.Morgan on the global Board. Other Market Axess equity holders include ABN Amro and UBS Warburg.

"Market Axess is an ideal delivery mechanism for our entire credit content. We aggressively embrace the Market Axess model because we feel it is consistent with serving the needs of the institutional constituencies who have expressed desire for aggregation of research, more price transparency and trading protocol which provide for crisp market executions," said Rick Rieder, Co-Head of Global Credit for Lehman Brothers.

Stephen Hester, Head of the Fixed Income Division at Credit Suisse First Boston, stated, "CSFB is pleased to be involved in the creation of a powerful electronic trading platform for global fixed income products. By creating global linkage between market makers and investors, Market Axess will help us all change the way fixed income markets operate."

Products

Market Axess' target markets include U.S. and European high grade corporate, high yield, emerging market, agency and municipal debt. An important capability of the Market Axess platform is the aggregation of dealer research. Currently, Market Axess includes more than 3,000 research reports. Market Axess participating dealers comprise two-thirds of the All-America Fixed-Income research teams included in the recent edition of Institutional Investor.

Craig Mitchell, Senior Vice President for American General, an institutional investor that manages approximately $62 billion in fixed income assets and an institutional client of the Market Axess system stated, "Market Axess is the solution we have been looking for to organize and consolidate credit market information. The platform allows investors to more efficiently utilize the services offered by the participating dealers. This is a step forward in improving liquidity in the fixed income markets. A broad service, multi-dealer site is a win for clients."

About Market Axess

Market Axess (http://www.marketaxess.com) is an Internet-based multi-dealer research and distribution platform for credit products that offers institutional investors access to comprehensive and market-leading range of securities, price competitiveness and seamless trade processing.

The firm has partnered with MoneyLine, a leading Internet provider of financial content, data and trading systems, to build the execution engines and Multex.com through its MultexEXPRESS ASP to customize investment research delivery.