NEW YORK and LONDON, Jan. 18, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Global index providers Dow Jones Indexes and FTSE Group today announced that their new joint classification system, the Industry Classification Benchmark (ICB), is now available. The ICB is embodied in a new and innovative classification database, covering 40,000 companies and 45,000 securities world-wide to represent a true global classification solution. It offers investors and the securities industry the most comprehensive and seamless classification system available, and serves as a versatile tool for global sector analysis.
The ICB already has been adopted by exchanges, index calculators and financial-services providers world-wide. All indexes calculated by Dow Jones Indexes have been converted to ICB. Indexes calculated by FTSE will be converted during 2005.
The two companies also announced the appointment of James Cemprola as managing director of the new business. Mr. Cemprola brings with him more than 12 years of financial-services experience, most recently with Thomson Financial in New York.
"ICB is an exciting project, and we have already seen a great deal of interest from financial and data vendors, exchanges and investment houses in adopting the product," Mr. Cemprola said. "I'm thrilled to be leading such an innovative and valuable venture."
The ICB has been devised from Dow Jones Indexes and FTSE Group's proprietary industry classification systems, and comprises a balanced, four-tier structure with Industry, Supersector, Sector and Subsector levels. This comprehensive design allows investors to monitor broad industry trends and to zero in on small-market niches, as well as facilitates detailed qualitative and quantitative analysis within a single system.
More information about the ICB can be accessed at a new Web site, www.icbenchmark.com.
For more information please contact:
Dow Jones Indexes New York: Sybille A. Reitz, +1-212-597-5735, Karishma Thakkar, +1-212-597-5718 Frankfurt: Simona Deckers, +49-69-97142894, Nicole Wesch, +49-69-97142893 or e-mail pr-indexes@dowjones.com FTSE Group Lynne Sims, FTSE Americas, Tel 1 212 641 6168 Sandra Steel, FTSE Group, Tel +44 207 448 1821 or email media@ftse.com
Notes to Editors
About Dow Jones Indexes
Dow Jones Indexes is a premier global provider of investable indexes, including the Dow Jones Averages, the Dow Jones Global Titans 50, the Dow Jones Asian Titans 50, the Dow Jones Sector Titans, the Dow Jones Country Titans Indexes and is co-owner of the Pan-European Dow Jones STOXX Indexes. Dow Jones Indexes is part of Dow Jones & Company, which publishes the world's most vital business and financial news and information.
In addition to Dow Jones Indexes, Dow Jones & Company (NYSE:DJ) (dowjones.com) publishes The Wall Street Journal and its international and online editions, Barron's and the Far Eastern Economic Review, Dow Jones Newswires and the Ottaway group of community newspapers. Dow Jones is co-owner with Reuters Group of Factiva, with Hearst of SmartMoney and with NBC Universal of the CNBC television operations in Asia and Europe. Dow Jones also provides news content to CNBC and radio stations in the U.S.
About FTSE Group
FTSE Group is a world-leader in the creation and management of indices. With offices in London, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Madrid, Paris, New York, San Francisco, and Tokyo, FTSE Group services clients in 77 countries worldwide. It calculates and manages the FTSE Global Equity Index series, which includes world-recognised indices ranging from the FTSE All-World Index, the FTSE4Good series and the FTSEurofirst Index series, as well as domestic indices such as the prestigious FTSE 100. The company has collaborative arrangements with the Athens, AMEX, Cyprus, Euronext, Johannesburg London, Madrid, NASDAQ and Taiwan exchanges, as well as Nomura Securities, Hang Seng and Xinhua Finance of China, FTSE recently signed an agreement with Dow Jones Indexes to develop a single sector classification system for global investors.
FTSE indices are used extensively by investors world-wide for investment analysis, performance measurement, asset allocation, portfolio hedging and for creating a wide range of index tracking funds. Independent committees of senior fund managers, derivatives experts, actuaries and other experienced practitioners review all changes to the indices to ensure that they are made objectively and without bias. Real-time FTSE indices are calculated on systems managed by Reuters. Prices and FX rates used are supplied by Reuters.
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