Instinet and Fortis Partner for Chi-X Clearing Services

Instinet, a global agency broker, and Fortis today announced the
signing of a Memorandum of Understanding under which Fortis is
cooperating with Instinet to develop clearing and settlement services
for Instinet Chi-X Limited, Instinet's new pan-European MTF
(Multi-Lateral Trading Facility)/ATS (Alternative Trading System) set
to begin trading later this year. With the deal in place, institutions
will pay significantly lower trade clearing and settlement fees on
Chi-X than they are currently charged by the major European clearing
houses and custodians.

"The total cost of trading equities in Europe is significantly
higher than other major markets competing for investor capital. Europe
needs competition, not consolidation, as this leads to innovation,
more liquidity and lower costs," said Peter Randall, Director,
Instinet Chi-X Limited. "Chi-X will provide institutions with a true
high speed, low-cost alternative for trading European equities, and
our partnership with Fortis, which provides compression, netting and
significantly lower clearing and settlement costs, will ensure
competition throughout the entire equities trading process."

"Fortis is one of the largest independent, third-party clearers in
Europe, Asia/Pacific and the U.S., offering clearing services for the
derivatives, equities, bonds and commodities markets," said Jan Bart
de Boer, Global Director of Commerce of Fortis Merchant Banking's
Brokerage, Clearing & Custody department. "We have General Clearing
Memberships at over 40 exchanges and access to other major exchanges
through third-party relationships. With today's emphasis on efficiency
and cost control, we are pleased to announce our cooperation with
Instinet to develop clearing services over our network with proven
speed, reliability and performance. The benefits to clients are
obvious."

In keeping with the open access principles of the European
Commission's Competition DG Code for post trade services, the Chi-X
market model also allows for interoperability with other providers of
central market infrastructure, be they central counterparties (CCPs)
or central securities depositories (CSDs).

About Chi-X

Instinet Chi-X Limited, an independent subsidiary of Instinet
Europe Limited which will launch later this year in conjunction with a
consortium of financial firms as an institutional trading venue, is an
FSA authorised securities firm operating as an Alternative Trading
System (ATS) and MTF (Multi-Lateral Trading Facility under MIFID).
Instinet Chi-X has been passported into all relevant European markets.

Through Chi-X's low cost, less complex model, institutional
investors are able to trade pan-European equities and achieve
ultra-low execution clearing and settlement costs. Through internal
benchmark tests, the Chi-X operating model was shown to potentially be
10 times faster and significantly cheaper than Europe's traditional
equity exchanges. For more information, please visit www.chi-x.com

About Instinet(R)

Instinet(R), a global agency-broker, provides the trading
expertise and advanced technology necessary to successfully interact
with more than 50 worldwide securities markets. Acting solely as an
agent for its customers, which include international mutual funds,
insurance companies, pension funds and hedge funds, Instinet seeks to
improve institutional investment performance and lower overall trading
costs through its various front end trading systems, securities
crossing networks, algorithms and investment research products. The
company, which is majority owned by Silver Lake Partners, is
headquartered in New York and maintains offices in North America,
Europe and the Asia Pacific region. For more information, please visit
www.instinet.com

About Fortis

Fortis is an international financial services provider engaged in
banking and insurance. We offer our personal, business and
institutional customers a comprehensive package of products and
services through our own channels, in collaboration with
intermediaries and through other distribution partners. With a market
capitalisation of EUR 41.6 billion (30/09/2006), Fortis ranks among
the twenty largest financial institutions in Europe. Our sound
solvency position, our presence in 50 countries and our dedicated,
professional workforce of 58,000 enable us to combine global strength
with local flexibility and provide our clients with optimum support.
More information is available on www.fortis.com.

About Fortis Merchant Banking

Merchant Banking is the international wholesale bank of Fortis. As
a focused and worldwide organisation, we provide tailored financial
services to corporate and institutional clients. We are active in
several areas, including treasury, fixed income, energy, commodities
and equities (including derivatives and structured products),
corporate finance, capital markets, cash management, asset financing,
project finance, private equity and structured credits. Merchant
Banking is specialised in the areas of fund administration, global
custody, securities lending and clearing services. More information is
available on www.merchantbanking.fortis.com.

(C)2006 Instinet, LLC. All rights reserved. INSTINET is a
registered service mark in the United States and in other countries
throughout the world. Approved for distribution in Europe by Instinet
Chi-X Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial
Services Authority. Instinet, LLC, member NASD/SIPC. Instinet Europe
Limited is a subsidiary of Instinet Incorporated.