I reproduce in its entirety, a Financial Services Instant Messaging Association Press Release.

"In order to further promote the development and adoption of instant messaging (IM) technology in the financial services industry, the Financial Services Instant Messaging Association (FIMA) announced the expansion of the association to 21 financial firm members.

FIMA announced the expansion of its steering group to 10 member firms with the addition of two key appointments, Bank of America and BNP Paribas. They join Credit Suisse First Boston, Deutsche Bank, J.P. Morgan Chase, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and UBS on the steering board. Graham Lawlor of Deutsche Bank and Ursula Mills of UBS are co-chairs of FIMA. Additionally, Andy Higgins of Bank of America has been appointed as chairman of the FIMA User Group.

FIMA also announced publication of the two documents identifying key IM requirements shared by FIMA member firms. The FIMA Functional Priorities List v1.0 identifies a comprehensive, prioritized list of enterprise IM features required by FIMA member firms. The FIMA Interoperability Definition v1.0 defines FIMA's position on specific requirements relating to interoperability between IM systems, promotion of which is a key FIMA focus. The documents were produced in conjunction with FIMA affiliated IM vendors and are intended to guide development of IM products and services towards delivering the needs of FIMA members and the needs of the financial services industry as a whole. Both documents and the list of FIMA affiliated vendors are available on the FIMA website -- www.financialim.org.

FIMA is non-partisan and open to any participant that wishes to promote Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) IM standards and protocols within the financial services community. By endorsing IETF instant messaging standards, FIMA seeks to promote interoperability and beneficial competition among Instant Messaging vendors.

For more information about FIMA, refer to the FIMA web site or contact Kris Kagel of UBS at 1-212-713-8703 or Ted Meyer of Deutsche Bank at 1-212-250-7253."