Futurist Hamish McRae is Luncheon Speaker at FpML.org Forum on
e-Commerce Standard for OTC Derivatives Trading

LONDON, March 27 - Hamish McRae, futurist and author of "The World in 2020: Power, Culture and Prosperity," will be the luncheon speaker at the FpML.org Spring 2001 Forum at the Hotel Inter-Continental here April 24. The Forum, which is expected to draw 200 representatives of leading banks, financial institutions, information and software vendors, and systems integrators, addresses the use of Financial products Markup Language as an XML-based e-commerce standard supporting OTC trading of financial derivatives.

Mr. McRae, a London-based economic journalist, has been in demand worldwide as a speaker on the future since his book was first published in 1994. He is also the principal economic commentator of The Independent, a columnist for Fortune and a visiting professor of the School of Management at UMIST. His topic, "Forces for Change in the World in 2020" states that key drivers of change in the world economy will be demography, resources and the environment; globalization; technology, and government and social change.

FpML.org is a not-for-profit organization led by a Board of Directors comprised of senior derivatives business leaders from major market participants. The FpML standard is freely licensed and is intended to automate the flow of information across the entire derivatives partner network, independent of the underlying software or hardware infrastructure supporting activities related to these transactions.

The full-day London forum will include general sessions covering the current status and future direction of the FpML standard, and where it is being applied. Breakout sessions will focus on proprietary vs. industry financial standards, XML tools, solutions for straight-through processing and FpML for interest rate derivatives, equity derivatives and foreign exchange. Information and registration at www.fpml.org

Organizations actively participating in the FpML standard:

Bank of America - BNP Paribas - Citigroup - Credit Suisse First Boston - Deutsche Bank - Fuji Capital Markets Corporation - Goldman Sachs - International Business Machines - JPMorgan - Morgan Stanley Dean Witter - PricewaterhouseCoopers - Reuters - SunGard Trading and Risk Systems - SwapsWire - S.W.I.F.T.
- UBS Warburg