News Release

Vancouver – The B.C. Securities Commission has given the go-ahead for B.C.-registered dealers to gain direct access to a U.S.-based electronic stock market.

Under a NASDAQ Canada proposal approved by the commission on Friday, Nov. 7, 2003, investment dealers registered in British Columbia will be able to give their clients more direct access to the trading services of the NASDAQ Stock Market, Inc. The services include the NASDAQ National Market, the NASDAQ SmallCap Market, and the Over-the-Counter Bulletin Board quotation service.

Until now, many Canadian dealers had to send their trading orders to NASDAQ U.S. indirectly through intermediaries such as electronic communications networks, their own affiliated broker-dealer located in the United States, or another U.S. broker-dealer. These intermediaries, in turn, then send the orders directly to NASDAQ U.S.

With the commission approval, Canadian dealers can now set up a U.S.-regulated affiliate on their own premises in B.C., staff it with employees from the Canadian dealer, and use their existing infrastructure.

The commission published NASDAQ’s proposal for comment on June 20, 2003. Based on comments received and further analysis, the commission has approved the application with some technical changes.

The commission notice, NASDAQ proposal and comments received are posted on the commission website at www.bcsc.bc.ca.

NASDAQ U.S. is a registered securities information processor under U.S. securities law. It is a subsidiary of NASD, a registered self-regulatory organization in the U.S. NASDAQ Canada is a wholly-owned subsidiary of NASDAQ U.S. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission oversees NASDAQ U.S.

The B.C. Securities Commission is the independent provincial government agency responsible for regulating trading in securities and exchange contracts within the province.