Toronto Stock Exchange and Optimark Agree to Joint Venture to Create Call Market

The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSE) and OptiMark Technologies, Inc. have confirmed that they have reached an agreement in principle to establish a new company which will operate a call market business for the Canadian marketplace. The call market will be a facility of the TSE, integrated with the Exchange's existing equities market. "The OptiMark™ System will enhance the liquidity and competitiveness of the TSE for all market participants, particularly brokers and institutional investors who have expressed the need for greater pre-trade anonymity", said Rowland Fleming, President and Chief Executive Officer of the TSE. "This agreement is consistent with other alliances we are pursuing with world-class industry specialists in order to deliver best value for TSE customers. The initiative is also an important element of the new strategic direction for the Exchange endorsed by the Board of Governors." The new company will have the exclusive license to implement OptiMark's technology for Canadian equities in Canada. It will fund and manage the implementation of the OptiMark System in Canada, working with the trading community to ensure that it is commercially competitive. The OptiMark call market offers a new trading mechanism for listed equities that will operate as a facility of the TSE and will complement and enhance the existing public auction market. The OptiMark System uses patented trading technology, which has a number of unique features including full expression of trading interest, complete confidentiality, and optimal price discovery. "The TSE is a globally respected market and Canada's premier stock exchange", said Phillip Riese, CEO of OptiMark. "TSE dealers, investors and issuers will all benefit from the increased liquidity, reduced market impact costs, and improved execution prices which the OptiMark call market is designed to create." OptiMark Technologies, Inc., a privately-held transaction services company, offers a leading edge securities matching facility that increases the efficiency and lowers the cost of trading. The OptiMark System's patented design offers traders a unique, safe way to express their full trading nterests without paying the typical market impact costs. OptiMark is headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey, and has offices in the U.S. and Canada, including in New York City, Boston, Chicago, Durango, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Toronto. Additional information on the company is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.optimark.com.