Christine Sandler Joins BLOCKalert as Head of Sales

Business Wire, March 22, 2007

NEW YORK -- BLOCKalert today announced that Christine Sandler has been named head of sales. In this newly created role, Christine will be responsible for all aspects of BLOCKalert's sales efforts, including management of the sales team and marketing.

"I am pleased to add Christine's significant experience and strong client relationships to the BLOCKalert sales team," said Steven J. Sorice, CEO of BLOCKalert. "Christine's reputation and industry expertise will be invaluable to our efforts toward growing our business with institutional clients."

BLOCKalert is a joint venture between Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER) and Investment Technology Group, Inc. (NYSE: ITG). It was formed in August of 2006 in order to create a global block order crossing service. BLOCKalert seeks out crossing opportunities in the trade blotters of participating clients. It provides the convenience of negotiated crossing systems along with broader liquidity. The service is independent and anonymous.

Prior to joining BLOCKalert, Christine was a managing director in Merrill Lynch's global electronic trading sales team. In this position, Christine led active cross selling initiatives and was responsible for marketing global electronic product to US institutional clients. Before joining Merrill Lynch, Christine was head of sales at Wave Securities. Prior to that, she served as east coast sales manager at Archipelago LLC.

For more information on BLOCKalert, please visit www.block-alert.com.

About Merrill Lynch

Merrill Lynch is one of the world's leading wealth management, capital markets and advisory companies, with offices in 37 countries and territories and total client assets of approximately $1.6 trillion. As an investment bank, it is a leading global trader and underwriter of securities and derivatives across a broad range of asset classes and serves as a strategic advisor to corporations, governments, institutions and individuals worldwide. Merrill Lynch owns approximately half of BlackRock, one of the world's largest publicly traded investment management companies, with more than $1 trillion in assets under management. For more information on Merrill Lynch, please visit www.ml.com.

About ITG

Investment Technology Group, Inc. (NYSE:ITG), is a specialized agency brokerage and technology firm that partners with clients globally to provide innovative solutions spanning the entire investment process. A pioneer in electronic trading, ITG has a unique approach that combines pre-trade analysis, order management, trade execution, and post-trade evaluation to provide clients with continuous improvements in trading and cost efficiency. The firm is headquartered in New York with offices in North America, Europe and the Asia Pacific regions. For more information on ITG, please visit www.itg.com.