News Release

NEW YORK CITY - July 17, 2006 - Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) Board Chairman Armando J. Bucelo, Jr., a Miami attorney, rang The Closing Bell at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Friday. (See video here). SIPC was created by Congress to maintain a special reserve fund to help investors at bankrupt brokerage firms.

Named as SIPC chairman in January, Bucelo is both the first Hispanic and first Floridian to so serve his nation. He was appointed by President Bush as a director of SIPC in 2002 and became vice chairman of the board in 2003.

SIPC Chairman Bucelo said: “It is appropriate for SIPC to be involved in this ceremony since the investor confidence that we help to instill is vital to the functioning of America’s capital markets, including the New York Stock Exchange. Investors should understand that, within the limits of the powers granted to us by Congress, SIPC is there to assist them.”

Bucelo was accompanied at the NYSE ceremony by his wife, Beatriz Bucelo, and his three children, Alexis Marie, Armando Joseph, and Alexander, as well as SIPC Director Thomas W. Grant, president of H.G. Wellington & Co., Inc., and SIPC President Stephen Harbeck.

SIPC President Harbeck added: “Like the New York Stock Exchange, SIPC is dedicated to operating in the best interests of investors in efficient capital formation.”

Bucelo serves on a number of boards, including the board of directors of the National Housing Development Corporation, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to: preserving affordable housing in partnership with local communities; empowering individuals; and revitalizing communities. He was appointed by the governor as a trustee of the board of directors of Miami Dade Community College and has served in that capacity since 1999. Bucelo also was a director of Freddie Mac under the George H.W. Bush administration.

He is the recipient of numerous awards and honors for his extensive civic activities. Born in Havana, Cuba, Bucelo received his B.S. and J.D. from the University of Miami. He is a member of the Florida Bar and the Inter-American Bar. Bucelo is admitted to practice law before the Supreme Court of the United States as well as various United States Tax and District Courts.

Chairman Bucelo stated: “I am very proud to serve as a chairman of SIPC. It is indeed an honor to ring the Closing Bell at the New York Stock Exchange, an event my family and I will never forget.”

ABOUT SIPC

From the time Congress created it in 1970 through December 2005, the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (http://www.sipc.org) advanced $585 million in order to make possible the recovery of $14.2 billion in assets for an estimated 624,000 investors. Although not every investor is protected by SIPC, the Securities Investor Protection Corporation estimates that no fewer than 99 percent of persons who are eligible have been made whole in the failed brokerage firm cases that it has handled to date.

SIPC either acts as trustee or works with an independent court-appointed trustee in a brokerage insolvency case to recover funds. The statute that created SIPC rules provides that customers of a failed brokerage firm receive all non-negotiable securities that are already registered in their names or in the process of being registered. At the same time, funds from the SIPC reserve are available to satisfy the remaining claims of each customer up to a maximum of $500,000. This figure includes a maximum of $100,000 on claims for cash.

CONTACT: Ailis Aaron Wolf, The Hastings Group, (703) 276-3265 or aaaron@hastingsgroup.com.