BIDS Trading Appoints Richard B. Levin as General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer and Secretary

New York, NY – February 1, 2007 – BIDS Trading, L.P. (Block Interest Discovery Service), the newly formed alternative trading system (ATS) designed to increase competition and liquidity in the U.S. equity block trading market, has named industry veteran Richard Levin as General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer and Secretary to the Board of Directors. In this position, Levin will be responsible for managing BIDS Trading’ legal, regulatory and compliance matters. He will also work closely with U.S. regulators to ensure that BIDS Trading fulfills all regulatory requirements.

The BIDS Trading platform, which offers customizable tools to allow end-users to successfully negotiate block trades, is expected to launch in spring 2007.

“Richard will play a leading role in BIDS Trading’ effort to provide traders with a unique, alternative liquidity source in the block trading market,” said BIDS Trading’ Chief Executive Officer Timothy Mahoney. “Richard’s extensive experience with market structure issues will be of tremendous importance as BIDS Trading seeks to improve market efficiency and reduce transaction costs through the BIDS Trading platform.”

Prior to joining BIDS Trading, Levin served as General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer and Secretary to the Board of Directors of EquiLend Holdings. Richard was part of the original management team that launched the securities finance joint venture of eleven leading financial services firms, including Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch and UBS. In this role, he was responsible for all legal, regulatory and compliance matters associated with the firm’s US and UK broker-dealer and ATS subsidiaries, including US, UK, Japanese, and Canadian regulators.

“I am excited to be part of the team behind this new venture,” said Levin. “As we move towards the launch date, I look forward to BIDS Trading achieving its goal of creating a deep liquidity pool for all market participants to anonymously trade large block orders.”

Levin has also served as General Counsel of NexTrade Holdings, Inc., the owner and operator of the NexTrade ECN which was acquired in 2006 by Citigroup and as Assistant General Counsel and Regulatory Affairs Officer of Knight Trading Group, Inc. While at Knight, Levin represented Nasdaq’s largest market maker before the SEC, the FINRA, Nasdaq, and UK regulators.

About BIDS Trading L.P.

BIDS Trading L.P. is a registered broker-dealer and the operator of the BIDS Trading Alternative Trading System (ATS) which was designed to bring counterparties together to anonymously trade large blocks of shares. Developed by a consortium of leading financial services firms, the BIDS Trading ATS resolves the classic paradox of the block trader – the need to find legitimate trading counterparties without prematurely revealing trading intentions. The founding firms are: Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C), The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS), Lehman Brothers (NYSE: LEH), Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER), Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MWD), and UBS (NYSE: UBS). BIDS Trading will be open to all qualifying broker-dealers and their institutional clients, subject to basic credit and regulatory requirements.

BIDS Trading, L.P. (“BIDS Trading”) is a member of the FINRA and SIPC. BIDS Trading and the BIDS Trading mark are protected in the United States and in countries throughout the world.