TO BUSINESS EDITOR:

Now Also Available Via the Web, Database Tracks Plan Sponsors, Pension Consultants, Investment Managers

NEW YORK, Feb. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- MMD WebAccess, the first Web-based access for the Money Market Directories (MMD) database -- the pension investment industry's standard reference for the industry -- was launched today by Standard & Poor's, a leading provider of independent research, indices and ratings. The MMD Database includes data on more than 70,000 pension plan sponsors, endowments and foundations, 14,500 investment advisory firms, and 300 pension consultants. MMD WebAccess is offered alongside the currently available print and CD-ROM versions, and allows users to create customized reports of directory contents, send mass mailings, and identify key institutional characteristics, such as asset size, type of institution, areas of future investment interest, key contacts and their areas of responsibility, asset allocations by plan type, and defined contribution plan investment options.

A pioneer in Pension Fund Reporting, Standard & Poor's Money Market Directories was founded in 1970, when it reported on 1,100 pension funds and $135 billion in pension assets. Pension assets as reported in the Money Market Directory of Pension Funds and their Investment Managers peaked in 2001 at $6.8 trillion. The recently released 2004 edition of the directory reports on $6.1 trillion in pension assets.

Highlighting the trend in U.S. workers' retirement plans away from traditional defined benefit plans toward defined contribution plans, the 2004 version of the MMD Database provides information on 38,584 different 401(k) plans with $1.3 trillion in assets, a dramatic increase from the $31.5 billion in assets tracked in 1986, the first year these assets were included.

The MMD Database groups together the contents of the following directories, each of which is also available separately:

* Money Market Directory of Pension Funds and their Investment Managers, which contains data on pension plan sponsors and endowments with $6.1 trillion in tax-exempt assets. In addition there are sections profiling the investment managers actively involved in the investment of pension assets, and other financial and information service providers.

* Directory of Tax-Exempt Organizations, which lists data on tax-exempt organizations and public and private foundations and health service organizations, as well as information on their decision makers and the tax-exempt funds for which they are responsible.

* The Consultant Directory, which profiles the leading pension consultants.

* Directory of Registered Investment Advisors, which covers investment advisory firms registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission and/or individual states.

* Security Dealers of North America, which includes listings on the main and branch offices of broker-dealers and investment banking firms.

About Standard & Poor's Money Market Directories

Conceived as the first comprehensive guide to the pension industry, Standard & Poor's Money Market Directories' database provides information on the organizations that sponsor pension funds, how much they have invested and where, who manages the money, and how they can be contacted. Information in the database is updated continually throughout the year, and is available in directory and electronic formats, and now in a Web-based version, MMD WebAccess. More information is available at www.mmdwebaccess.com.

About Standard & Poor's

Standard & Poor's, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP), is a leader in providing widely recognized financial data, analytical research and investment and credit opinions to the global capital markets. With 5,000 employees located in 19 countries, Standard & Poor's is an integral part of the world's financial architecture. Additional information is available at www.standardandpoors.com.

SOURCE  Standard & Poor's