LONDON and NEW YORK, March 15, 2005 — Dow Jones Indexes, (NYSE:DJ) a leading global index provider, Markit Group Limited (“Markit”), the leading industry source for independent pricing and valuations, and CDS IndexCo, a consortium of sixteen investment banks, today announced that they have signed agreements governing the calculation, marketing and licensing of the Dow Jones CDX Indexes, the market-leading suite of North American and Emerging Market credit derivative indexes.

Under the terms of the separate agreements, Dow Jones Indexes has sole responsibility for branding and licensing the Dow Jones CDX Indexes, and assumes joint responsibility with CDS IndexCo for marketing the indexes. Dow Jones has approved the Dow Jones CDX Index methodology, and will continue to oversee and approve the creation of any new indexes. The Dow Jones CDX Index daily closing values will be available on both Dow Jones Indexes’ website at http://www.djindexes.com and also on Markit’s website http://www.markit.com.

Markit assumes sole responsibility for administering the Dow Jones CDX Indexes, which includes collecting source data, compiling, calculating and distributing the CDX daily closing values and publishing historical data on its website. Markit will act as adviser to CDS IndexCo on methodology, overseeing the index rolls, and is responsible for the day-to-day running of CDS IndexCo.

“Dow Jones Indexes brings an objective and rules-based approach to the credit derivative index business with the integrity that the market expects from a global index provider,” said Kevin Pilarski, director of alternative strategies and derivatives at Dow Jones Indexes. “Since announcing the agreement, we have received tremendous interest from market participants in licensing the Dow Jones CDX Indexes to be used as underlying for investment products.”

Kevin Gould, Executive Vice President of Markit said, “Markit is delighted to take on a pivotal role in the Dow Jones CDX Indexes. We bring to the table raw credit derivative knowledge, a depth of experience in data management and the skills to tackle the operational issues associated with credit index management. The role we play also dovetails nicely with the central role that our Reference Entity Database (RED) plays in ensuring the reference data in the indexes is both correct and market-standard.”

The Dow Jones CDX Indexes were formed from the merger of the North American TRAC-X and iBoxx credit derivative indexes in April 2004. The creation of a single family of credit derivative indexes for North American and Emerging Market entities has enhanced the liquidity of the credit derivative market while providing a clear benchmark for credit investors.

The Dow Jones CDX family of credit derivative indexes are composed of corporate and sovereign entities domiciled in North America and Emerging Markets. Dow Jones CDX indexes include: Dow Jones CDX.NA.IG (Investment Grade), Dow Jones CDX.NA.IG.HVOL (High Volatility), Dow Jones CDX.NA.HY (High Yield), Dow Jones CDX.NA.HY.BB (High Yield, BB), Dow Jones CDX.NA.HY.B (High Yield, B), Dow Jones CDX.NA.HY Notes (High Yield Notes) and Dow Jones CDX.EM (Emerging Markets).

CDS IndexCo is a consortium of sixteen investment banks which are licensed to be market makers in the Dow Jones CDX indexes. The market makers include: ABN AMRO, Bank of America, Barclays Capital, Bear Stearns, BNP Paribas, Citigroup, Credit Suisse First Boston, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JPMorgan, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, UBS, and Wachovia.