12th September, 2006
Thomas Weisel Partners implements the Fidessa® trading platform

New York – 12 September 2006 – royalblue (LSE: RYB), provider of Fidessa, today announced that Thomas Weisel Partners Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: TWPG) has successfully launched Fidessa as its equity trading platform for the US markets. Thomas Weisel Partners is an investment bank focused on the growth sectors of the economy in the technology, healthcare and consumer sectors.

The implementation of the Fidessa platform was a collaborative effort between Thomas Weisel Partners and Fidessa which included a simultaneous conversion of Thomas Weisel Partners’ back office and replacement of Brass. Thomas Weisel Partners converted to Fidessa to integrate the firm’s trading activities. This implementation was in part in preparation for upcoming compliance obligations such as RegNMS. It also allows Thomas Weisel Partners the flexibility to accommodate drivers in the market such as sector trading and DMA, to monitor and mitigate risk through Fidessa’s extensive audit capabilities and trade surveillance capabilities, and to reduce trading costs.

During the implementation, Thomas Weisel Partners and Fidessa worked closely together in the initial design, receiving input from traders on the OTC, Listed and Program trading desks to achieve optimal workflow on the desk. Technology, Operations and Compliance were consulted to ensure their needs were addressed in the design of the platform. Finally, participation was solicited during the pre-production testing. It was particularly important that Thomas Weisel Partners and Fidessa participate in rigorous testing due to a concurrent back office conversion, and both parties agreed that extensive testing contributed to the success of the conversion.

Tim Heekin, Co-Director of Trading of Thomas Weisel Partners, comments: “We needed a trading and order management infrastructure capable of providing more flexibility. We also needed to adapt our trading system strategies to the changing marketplace and running disparate systems was no longer an option. We were thrilled with the implementation and onsite conversion assistance provided by Fidessa. While converting to a new trading platform is not insignificant, Fidessa’s expertise in this area meant our traders received expert support throughout the conversion process.”

As a Fidessa customer, Thomas Weisel Partners automatically becomes a part of Fidessa’s extensive receiving broker network, which allows other broker dealers using Fidessa, and Fidessa Execution Management Workstation users on the buy-side, to send single stock and algorithmic order flow to Weisel Automated Trading Service. Fidessa’s extensive global network means Thomas Weisel Partners can market themselves to an even more extensive customer base than before.

Mark Ames, CEO of Fidessa, comments: “We are very excited to be working with Thomas Weisel Partners to improve and extend the services they offer their customers. Our combination of proven and extensive functionality, coupled with our independence and market expertise make us an ideal partner for firms like Thomas Weisel Partners. Our expanding product lines such as BlueBox, Options Trading, and Global Trading will provide Thomas Weisel Partners with even more options to expand their business down the line.”

About Thomas Weisel Partners
Thomas Weisel Partners Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TWPG) is an investment bank focused principally on the technology, healthcare and consumer sectors of the economy.

Founded in 1998, the firm’s primary lines of business include investment banking, brokerage, equity research, and asset management services. Thomas Weisel Partners is headquartered in San Francisco, CA with additional offices in New York City, Boston, Silicon Valley and Mumbai, India.

Media Contact:
Amanda Gaines-Cooke
(415) 364-2500
amandagc@twesiel.com


About Fidessa group

Fidessa group is a world-leading supplier of multi-asset trading, portfolio analysis, decision support, investment compliance, market data and global connectivity solutions for both the buy-side and sell-side globally. Available as a simple workstation or as an integrated application suite, the Fidessa and Fidessa LatentZero products are built on the clear vision of providing the richest functionality, coverage and distribution to the financial markets community.

The Fidessa suite is used by 85% of tier-one, global equity brokers providing sophisticated multi-asset trading, market data, order management and execution capabilities to all tiers of the sell-side.

The Fidessa LatentZero suite is used by the world’s largest asset management firms through to smaller specialist managers and hedge funds, and provides comprehensive portfolio analysis, real-time P&L, what-if analysis, investment compliance, order and execution management, and post trade processing tools, across all asset classes, to all tiers of the buy-side.

Fidessa’s global network carries over 130 million messages a month covering DMA, Care and Algorithmic orders, Indications of Interest and FIX Allocations between over 1,800 buy-sides and 310 brokers across 100 markets worldwide.

Head-quartered in London and with offices in New York, Boston, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Paris, Toronto and San Francisco, Fidessa group serves 22,000 users across 600 clients globally. Fidessa group was founded in 1981, has revenues of around US$350m, employs over 1,200 people and has been fully listed (LSE:FDSA) since 1997.

For further information, please contact:

Alastair Turner
Aspectus PR (PR Agency)
+44 (0) 20 7487 8443
alastair@aspectuspr.co.uk

Fidessa® is a registered trademark of Fidessa Group plc
All product and company names herein may be trademarks of their registered owners.

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