Goldman Sachs PrimeAccess Launches in North America; Top-Tier Regional Financial Services Firms Partner With Goldman Sachs On New Offering

Business Wire, May 2, 2001

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 2, 2001

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) today announced the North American launch of Goldman Sachs PrimeAccess(TM), a proprietary offering that delivers Goldman Sachs content, products and execution services to leading brokerage firms in the United States and Canada.

Goldman Sachs also announced that the following firms have agreed to provide Goldman Sachs PrimeAccess(TM) to their financial advisors: Advest, Inc., Dain Rauscher Inc., Mesirow Financial, Raymond James & Associates, Inc., Robert W. Baird & Co., Incorporated, Scott & Stringfellow, Inc., Stephens Inc., Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated, Sutro & Co., Inc., Tucker Anthony Incorporated, U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray, Wachovia Securities, and William Blair & Company, L.L.C. Collectively, these firms have more than 10,500 registered representatives.

"We are delighted that these firms have chosen to offer Goldman Sachs PrimeAccess to their financial advisors," said Robert Steel, head of Goldman Sachs Global Equities Division. "We developed Goldman Sachs PrimeAccess to be a valuable tool for our partners, as well as a means to build on our respective strengths."

Goldman Sachs PrimeAccess provides the partner firms with Goldman Sachs North American investment research, including company and sector analysis, portfolio strategy and economic commentary, which will complement the partner firms' in-house research coverage, as well as a range of equity-related products. In addition, the combined execution capabilities of Goldman Sachs, Spear, Leeds & Kellogg and The Hull Group will be made available to the various partner firms who use Goldman Sachs PrimeAccess.

Goldman Sachs PrimeAccess was launched successfully in Europe in September 2000, and partners include Direkt-Anlage Bank in Germany, Lloyds TSB in the United Kingdom and Bank Inter in Spain.

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is a leading global investment bank and securities firm, providing a full range of investing, advisory and financing services worldwide to a substantial and diversified client base, which includes corporations, financial institutions, governments and high net worth individuals. Founded in 1869, the firm is headquartered in New York and maintains offices in London, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Hong Kong and other major financial centers around the world.