Master Agreement Protocol Released for International Swaps & Derivatives: Current Cut-off Date for Adherence - March 1,2004

One of the obstacles to promoting the use of the 2002 ISDA Master Agreement (the "2002 Agreement")is the fact that many of the definitions and credit support documents published before 2002 by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. ("ISDA") are not compatible with the 2002 Agreement without amendment.

In order to enable users of the 2002 Agreement to make the necessary amendments to such documents efficiently, ISDA published the 2002 Master Agreement Protocol on 15th July, 2003 (the "Protocol") following widespread industry consultation supported by English and New York legal opinions. The Protocol has 18 Annexes, each relating to a separate definitions or credit support document published by ISDA before 2002 and containing all of the amendments that will need to be made to such documents to make them compatible with the 2002 Agreement.