TradePortal to Usher in New Era of Direct Market Access for Institutional Financial Brokerages

Compliance, Automation and Competitiveness Issues Converge on Financial Services Market as Business Execution Weighs in the Balance

IRVINE, Calif., May 04, 2005 – Technology is often a catalyst within many industries, but when it comes to securities trading, technology takes center stage as the key focal point among controllable factors. The industry was forever altered by the introduction of Direct Market Access technologies (DMA) whereby retail traders gained direct access to primary liquidity pools in real-time through multiple execution channels, instantly eliminating the need for a broker to serve as middleman. Thanks to the Internet, electronic exchanges continue to grow and outpace trading floors, helping to level the playing field for investors. The SEC’s new Regulation NMS is now pushing things even faster by penalizing non-electronic trading activity in a quest to achieve fairness for all.

DMA can offer significant advantages to any market participant, but since DMA technologies were originally designed for retail traders, they lacked the backend management tools, interoperability, and extensive customizations necessary to effectively serve institutional traders. Thus, in an effort to embrace DMA technologies and retool them for their proprietary and exclusive use, a select few of the country’s biggest financial institutions have acquired and now control most of the formerly independent DMA companies, leaving the vast majority of institutional traders without any near-term prospects to leverage DMA.

Enter TradePortal. Founded in 1998, the company today is readying the release of the industry’s first DMA technology designed from the ground up for institutional customers. The flexible nature of TradePortal’s DMA platform guarantees interoperability with legacy systems, while delivering a secure, stable solution with unlimited scalability. Aptly named MatriXsuite, this enterprise-class DMA technology is comprised of more than 20 individual plug and play products to ensure quick deployment and efficient customization.

Industry watcher, Sang Lee, managing partner of Aite Group, commented that, “There is no question that we are in the center of great change in the financial markets which also means it is a time of great opportunity. TradePortal’s technology approach which focuses on fueling IT with highly scalable DMA software is poised to become mission critical technology for companies looking to embrace the current trading environment as a launch pad for new business opportunities.”

Captivated by the enormity of the opportunity, TradePortal set out to develop a DMA platform that could support all markets and all asset classes, handle an unlimited volume of transactions, allow traders to easily customize their own tools, and serve the institutional market - not just retail customers.

“When we first started, our goal was to form a retail brokerage that would embrace the latest available DMA tools. When we realized how much functionality was lacking and that the existing software could never fuel institutions, we realized what an incredible opportunity there was to develop the next generation of DMA technology,” explained David Smithey, Chairman and CEO of TradePortal.

What appeared to be a tall order, gained the interest of Primark (eventually bought by Thomson), resulting in an initial investment from Primark and a follow-on investment directly from Thomson that funded the development of TradePortal’s enterprise-class DMA platform.

With an early vision that DMA should cross over from retail to institutional, Smithey initiated steps to ensure TradePortal’s DMA technology was architected to thoroughly support this inevitably. In another prescient move, the TradePortal team bet on the Microsoft platform early on, thus setting the stage for a Microsoft/Tibco product that offers an unparalleled simplicity when it comes to integration. For example, by leveraging the efficiency of a single code base, upgrades to trader software never require new installations or deployments, and TradePortal’s unique ‘application on-demand’ requests are automatically fulfilled based simply upon trader login events; everything is instantly managed from a central location.

The MatriXsuite from TradePortal is extensible to the needs of hedge funds, prime brokers, market makers, clearing firms, trading brokerages and retail traders. “One code base is the secret to serving many markets,” states Smithey. “The user log-in determines the experience, so all of the functionality behind the scenes is transparent and truly seamless for a financial services organization, such as a bank, to turn on new sets of capabilities to varied employees or customers.”

Positioned as a game changer, TradePortal’s DMA platform is being embraced as essential technology, not just for the access it provides, but also for the trading tools and automation it brings to bear. “We are a technology partner and have discarded the point solutions approach as too narrow. Besides solving the short range needs of better, faster and more cost effective securities trading, we see our biggest value to our customers as unlocking opportunities to enter new markets. The financial services industry is at a crossroads and TradePortal is here to provide the bridge to greater opportunities,” concluded Smithey.

About TradePortal

Since 1998, TradePortal has been providing Direct Market Access (DMA) software to the financial services industry. MatriXsuite, its flagship offering, provides traders on both the buy-side and sell-side with fully integrated trading applications, real-time compliance and back office administrative tools for easy management.

TradePortal’s enterprise applications suite is distinguished by its single code based architecture. This unique approach enables the MatriXsuite to service multiple markets, including hedge funds, market makers, and active traders. TradePortal is the only company that offers an entire solution suite across two industry sectors (retail and institutional) and ten industry segments.

Headquartered in Irvine, California, TradePortal is an equity partner of Thomson Financial, an operating unit of The Thomson Corporation (NYSE: TOC, TSX: TOC) and licenses its software to leading financial institutions including Merrill Lynch, National Financial/Fidelity, Computer Clearing Services, Pacific Growth Equities, and the Takada Trading Group, Inc.

For more information, visit the company’s web site at www.tradeportal.com.