Penson Financial Services Canada Chooses DTCC for Global Corporate Action Information

Business Wire, May 3, 2007

Penson Financial Services Canada becomes the first Canadian clearing firm to join corporate actions service

NEW YORK -- The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) today announced that Penson Financial Services Canada Inc. has chosen DTCC's Global Corporate Action Validation Service (GCA VS) to automate, streamline and reduce risk for corporate actions.

Penson Financial Services Canada is the first Canadian clearing firm to sign up for GCA VS. The service provides a centralized source of corporate action announcements for equities and fixed-income instruments traded in more than 160 countries in Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Americas. The service provides the broadest corporate actions coverage of any service in the world.

"As a leading Canadian carrying broker, we have an absolute need to receive high quality, fast and accurate corporate actions for Canadian securities, as well as securities in the U.S. and many other countries" said Terry Bourne, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Penson Financial Services Canada. "With GCA Validation Service, we'll be able to take advantage of multiple vendor feeds that are checked against each other, along with the resources and experience of DTCC to help ensure the accuracy of the data. We expect it will free up resources, allowing us to focus on other areas where we can add significant value for our clients."

"We are excited to have a large clearing firm like Penson sign onto the service, because it means the data will be shared by a number of firms that get clearing data through Penson," said James Femia, DTCC managing director and head of the Global Corporate Action business. "There is a definite movement in the industry to outsource global corporate action announcement information as a way to improve the data that firms get on corporate actions globally, while reducing their costs and risks."

Penson Financial Services Canada joins a growing number of other major global financial institutions and buy-side firms using the GCA VS, including Credit Suisse First Boston, JP Morgan Securities, Merrill Lynch, Raymond James, Abbey Financial Markets, First Clearing and UBS, among others.

GCA VS provides customers with worldwide coverage through service centers in Shanghai, London and New York. The service allows customers to outsource functions that are largely manual, costly and are not core competencies or competitive advantages for investment firms.

About Penson Worldwide: www.penson.com The Penson Worldwide group of companies provides execution, clearing, custody, settlement, and technology infrastructure products and services to financial services firms and others servicing the global financial services industry. The Penson Worldwide group of companies includes Penson Financial Services, Inc., Penson Financial Services Canada, Inc., Penson Financial Services Ltd., Nexa Technologies, Inc., Penson Financial Futures, Inc. and Penson GHCO, among other companies. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, Penson has served the clearing needs of all types of broker/dealers since 1995.

Penson Financial Services, Inc. is a member of the American Stock Exchange, Chicago Stock Exchange, the NASD, Inc., the Chicago Board Options Exchange, OneChicago, the International Securities Exchange, the NYSE Arca Exchange, the Options Clearing Corp, the MSRB, NSCC, ICMA, DTC, Euroclear, SIPC and is a participant of the Boston Options Exchange (BOX). Penson Financial Services Canada, Inc. is a participating organization with the Toronto Stock Exchange, the Montreal Exchange, the TSX Venture Exchange, is regulated by the Investment Dealers Association of Canada, and is a member of the CIPF. Penson Financial Services, Ltd. is a member of the London Stock Exchange and is authorized and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. Penson Financial Futures, Inc. is a registered Futures Commission Merchant. Penson GHCO is a registered Futures Commission Merchant and clearing member at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Chicago Board of Trade, London International Financial Futures Exchange, and ICE Futures.

About DTCC

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), through its subsidiaries, provides clearance, settlement and information services for equities, corporate and municipal bonds, government and mortgage-backed securities and over-the-counter derivatives. In addition, DTCC is a leading processor of mutual funds and insurance transactions, linking funds and carriers with their distribution networks. DTCC's depository provides custody and asset servicing for 2.8 million securities issues from the United States and 100 other countries and territories, valued at $36 trillion. Last year, DTCC settled more than $1.5 quadrillion in securities transactions. DTCC has operating facilities in multiple locations in the United States and overseas. For more information on DTCC, visit www.dtcc.com.

The GCA Validation Service is provided through DTCC Solutions LLC, a DTCC subsidiary. In 2006, it provided information on almost 900,000 corporate actions globally involving 1.6 million securities in more than 160 countries. Additional information is available at www.dtcc.com/gca.>

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