Nasdaq Financial-100 Index annual changes

New York: Effective with the market open on 29 July 2002, the components of the Nasdaq Financial-100 Index will change. New Century Financial Corporation, First Niagara Financial Group and Seacoast Financial Services Corporation will be added to the Financial-100 Index.

New Century Financial Corporation is a nationwide speciality mortgage banking company that, through its subsidiaries, originates, purchases and sells residential mortgage loans secured primarily by first mortgages on single-family residences. The Irvine, California, company had a market capitalisation of $855 million at the time of selection.

First Niagara Financial Group is a financial services company with a presence in the western and central regions of New York State. First Niagaras range of products includes personal and business checking, savings, business loan and mortgage products, cash management services, investment alternatives, lease financing and trust services. The company also offers commercial and personal insurance, third-party employee benefits administration and investment advisory services. The Lockport, New York, company had a market capitalisation of $721 million at the time of selection.

Seacoast Financial Services Corporation is the holding company for Compass Bank and Nantucket Bank, state-chartered savings banks serving Southeastern Massachusetts and Nantucket Island, respectively. The banks provide a wide array of financial services including consumer banking, mortgage lending, commercial lending, consumer finance, private banking and alternative investments to retail and business customers. The New Bedford, Massachusetts, company had a market capitalisation of $607 million at the time of selection.

As a result of the addition of the above three companies to the Financial-100 Index, CompuCredit Corporation, WesBanco and Argonaut Group will be removed. The Financial-100 Index annual component adjustments ensure that the Index represents the largest domestic and international issues of financial companies listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market (www.nasdaq.com) and improve the indexs value as a benchmark for institutional and individual investors.

All securities in the index are among the top 150 Index eligible securities based on closing prices and the publicly available total shares outstanding as of 28 June 2002. Financial-100 issues ranked 101 through 150 in market value will be replaced by larger eligible securities unless the security was in the Financial-100 last year and was ranked within the top 100 Index eligible securities.

Eligibility criteria for the Index includes the following:

• the security must be a financial company
• only one class of security per issuer is allowed
• the security may not be issued by an issuer currently in bankruptcy proceedings
• the security must have seasoned on the Nasdaq Stock Market or another recognised market (generally, a company is considered to be seasoned by Nasdaq if it has been listed on a market for at least two years; in the case of spin-offs, the operating history of the spin-off will be considered)
• if a security would otherwise qualify to be in the top 25 per cent of the issuers included in the index by market capitalisation, then a one year seasoning criteria would apply
• if the security is of a foreign issuer, it must be eligible for listed options trading, and
• a company may not be included if it has entered into a definitive agreement or other arrangement which would result in the company no longer being listed on the Nasdaq National Market within the next six months.

The Nasdaq Financial-100 Index includes 100 of the largest domestic and international financial organisations listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market based on market capitalisation. The index contains bank and savings institutions and related holding companies, insurance companies, broker dealers, investment companies and financial services. On 31 January 1985, the Nasdaq Financial-100 index began with a base of 250.00.