LEADING ELECTRONIC BOND TRADING PLATFORM ACQUIRES INDUSTRY STANDARD IN FIXED INCOME ANALYTICS

TIPS, Inc. Joins BondDesk Group

NEW YORK, March 19, 2002 – BondDesk.com LLC (“BondDesk”) is pleased to announce its acquisition of the assets of TIPS, Inc., a primary provider of fixed income calculations software for the financial services industry.  The company will become a division of BondDesk and re-brand their suite of products as BondDesk*Analytics.  The terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Jan Mayle, author of the “Standard Securities Calculations Methods” books published by the Securities Industry Association (SIA), founded TIPS in 1986.  After years of working as a consultant to the financial services industry, Mr. Mayle saw a need to integrate existing standards – which he developed in conjunction with the SIA – with the industry’s growing implementation of software.  Designed to help the industry standardize the valuation and analysis of fixed income securities, TIPS’ primary product is the “Standard Securities Calculations Software Library.”  The software library provides calculation routines for valuation and analysis of domestic, foreign developed and emerging market fixed income securities to developers of in-house and commercial systems. 

“This acquisition further solidifies BondDesk’s position in the e-bond trading marketplace by extending our realm of service to our clients,” stated Joseph Nirta, Chief Information Officer of BondDesk.   “This is an exceptional opportunity for both organizations.  Jan Mayle literally wrote the book on fixed income analytics, and as BondDesk moves to provide its subscribers with the ability to perform additional financial calculations in conjunction with their transactions, this alliance is a natural extension.”

Jan Mayle, President of TIPS, says he looks forward to having TIPS as part of the BondDesk group because it facilitates the opportunity for the company to explore different avenues in product development.   “Working with BondDesk allows us to see first hand how end users implement our products.  This deployment in a client environment enables us to design a more customized, functional, software solution which will benefit all of our clients.”

For more information, visit: www.bonddesk.com

###

About BondDesk

BondDesk is a privately held company providing a complete online retail fixed income solution, servicing both traditional and online broker-dealers, creating a more centralized bond market.  BondDesk’s broker-dealer equity partners include ABN AMRO, A.G. Edwards & Sons, Inc., Bank of America, Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc., Dain Rauscher, Inc., First Union Securities, Inc., Goldman, Sachs & Co., Legg Mason Wood Walker, Inc., UBS PaineWebber Inc., Pershing Division of DLJ Securities Corp., Prudential Securities Incorporated, Raymond James & Associates, Inc., Spear Leeds & Kellogg, Susquehanna Partners, G.P. and TD Waterhouse Group, Inc.  Based in Mill Valley, California with software development and technical support in Rochester Hills, Michigan, BondDesk has over 100 employees.  BondDesk’s broker-dealer subsidiary, BondDesk Trading, is based in New York City and Carlsbad, California.

CONTACT:

Janna Silverglade, Silverglade Media Inc.: 917.533.0082 or email jsilver@bonddesk.com