Fitch Clarifies Latest Rating Actions for Bear Stearns

Business Wire, March 25, 2008

CHICAGO -- Fitch Ratings upgraded the long- and short-term Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) of The Bear Stearns Companies, Inc. (BSC) to 'A-/F2' on March 17 pending completion of the acquisition by JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPMC). Fitch also placed BSC on Rating Watch Positive pending completion of the acquisition. These ratings were not changed following yesterday's amendments of the merger and guaranty by JPMC and BSC since the IDRs applicable to instruments that are both included and excluded from the JPMC amended guaranty. In addition, Fitch's ratings for BSC debt issues were placed on Rating Watch Positive, also pending completion of the acquisition, but not upgraded since they are not covered by the amended guaranty in the interim.

However, Fitch acknowledges that there are many short-term BSC transactions covered by JPMC's amended guaranty. Most of these instruments are not identifiable by a CUSIP or market identifier, which raises the difficulty of assigning ratings to specific guaranteed transactions. For those obligations covered by the JPMC guaranty, credit quality would be equivalent to the short-term rating of JPMC. Please refer to the documents as provided by JPMC and BSC separately for details on covered obligations. Fitch's short-term rating of JPMC is 'F1 '.

For more information, see Fitch's press release issued yesterday ('Fitch Comments on JPMorgan/Bear Amended Acquisition Agreement'), which is available on the Fitch Ratings web site at www.fitchratings.com.

Fitch's rating definitions and the terms of use of such ratings are available on the agency's public site, www.fitchratings.com. Published ratings, criteria and methodologies are available from this site, at all times. Fitch's code of conduct, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, affiliate firewall, compliance and other relevant policies and procedures are also available from the 'Code of Conduct' section of this site.