Nasdaq Exchange Registration Member and Issuer Transition Issues

On January 13, 2006, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) approved the Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (“Nasdaq”) as a registered national securities exchange. Under the SEC’s order, Nasdaq will be able to begin operating as a national securities exchange after a number of legal and operational conditions have been satisfied.

Nasdaq’s transaction execution services, such as the Nasdaq Market Center, Brut, and INET, will be operated under Nasdaq’s exchange registration. NASD members that currently operate as order-entry firms, market-making firms or electronic communications networks in the Nasdaq Market Center will need to become members of the Nasdaq Exchange in order to use the Nasdaq Market Center trading system and other Nasdaq services. All NASD member firms will be eligible to become members of the Nasdaq Exchange by completing a “waive in” form. Specifically, the White Paper outlines the following topics:

• Transition Issues for Members of the Nasdaq Exchange
• Transition Issues for Issuers of Securities Listed on the Nasdaq Exchange

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