In response to feedback from our annual customer satisfaction survey, National Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCC) is implementing a Customer Service Center of Excellence on July 7, 2003. This Center of Excellence will provide our participants the ability to call a single number and gain access to support for all NSCC products and services. This number is 1-212-855-1144.

The new Customer Service Center of Excellence will be staffed with the same trained professionals that have provided you with quick and accurate responses to your transactional inquiries in the past. However, the new Customer Service Center of Excellence is a closely monitored system that ensures that we provide the highest level of customer service possible.

The following page details the support areas that can be reached by calling this number.

The areas and telephone queues that can be accessed by calling the National Securities Clearing Corporation hotline 1-212-855-1144 are as follows:

• For executing a buy-in, press 1
• For how to calculate your position, press 2

• For Settlement issues, press 1
• For CNS reorg issues, press 2
• For all other CNS issues, press 3

• For Mutual Fund, IPS and NSCC Billing questions, press 1
• For ACATS, press 2

• For Digital Certificate and Password Reset issues, press 1
• For PC Web and PSE testing issues, press 2
• For connectivity issues, press 3

We encourage you to begin using the new Customer Service Center of Excellence, and we hope that it meets your standards.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this notice, please contact Bruce Hin, Vice President, 212-855-1692.