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                             [JP MORGAN LETTERHEAD]

News release: Immediate                                            March 9, 2000

               J.P. Morgan launches LabMorgan - new e-finance unit

         J.P. Morgan, a pioneer in launching web-based ideas and companies in
the financial services sector, today introduced LabMorgan, the firm's new
e-finance unit.

         Combining the capabilities of a classic incubator and early-stage
merchant bank with the brand, financial market prowess, content, and client
reach of J.P. Morgan, LabMorgan aims to be the destination of choice for
entrepreneurs with innovative e-finance ideas and a hub of technological
innovation within the firm. LabMorgan will partner with Morgan's other business
groups to capture the flow of e-finance ideas inside and outside the firm, and
build the best of them into scalable initiatives that benefit clients,
shareholders, and financial markets.

         "We expect LabMorgan to be a catalyst for transformative global growth
for J.P. Morgan, helping us expand our client franchise, drive capital markets
innovation, and advance productivity," said Douglas A. Warner III, chairman.

         "With our long track record of building businesses, we bring compelling
strengths to entrepreneurs, potential partners, clients, and our own people as
they seek to create or realize market value," said Nick Rohatyn, head of
LabMorgan. "We are looking to build and nurture e-finance ideas that will shape
the future of financial services, expand our client base and the markets
themselves, and commercialize our marketable technology infrastructure."

         In addition to Rohatyn, who founded and ran the firm's top-ranked
global emerging markets business and recently oversaw the broader credit markets
business, Morgan is committing the full-time talents of six other managing
directors to the unit at launch: Jeanne Feldhusen, Thorkild Juncker, Arthur
Magnus, Peter Maillet, Peter Miller, and Phil Weisberg. During 2000, LabMorgan
plans to build a staff of nearly 200 professionals globally, including external
and internal hires, who will screen and accelerate ideas, identify partners,
commit capital, and support idea launches. The unit will be cost-neutral to the
firm's planned expenses.

         J.P. Morgan intends to commit up to $1 billion to electronic business
initiatives in 2000, the majority of which will be invested as capital in
promising ventures.

         "We are building LabMorgan from a strong platform of successful
e-finance initiatives and investments already underway," said Rohatyn, "and
expect to launch more over the next several weeks." Since June 1999, Morgan has
formed Cygnifi, the first web-based independent derivatives services


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Press contacts:

New York                      Michael Golden               1-212-235-0595
London                        Eileen Darko                44-171-325-5755
Tokyo                         Shuri Fukunaga                813-5573-1228
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J.P. Morgan & Co. Incorporated
News Release


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company; MarketAxess, a multi-dealer bond trading portal; Horizon, a web-based
risk assessment tool jointly marketed with Ernst & Young; VolCenter, a portal
for foreign exchange and precious metals derivatives traders; and FpML, a
web-based protocol for exchanging information between derivatives dealers and
users.

         LabMorgan's web address is www.labmorgan.com.

                                      # # #

         J.P. Morgan & Co. Incorporated is a leading global financial services
firm that meets critical financial needs for business enterprises, governments,
and individuals. The firm advises on corporate strategy and structure, raises
capital, makes markets in financial instruments, and manages investment assets.
Morgan also commits its own capital to promising enterprises, and invests and
trades to capture market opportunities. The company's web address is
www.jpmorgan.com.