2003, a new market, the Bulletin Board ExchangeSM (BBXSM), will be launched. The BBX will eventually take the place of the OTC Bulletin Board ® (OTCBB), which will be phased out. The BBX will appeal to many of the same companies that are currently quoted on the OTCBB, but will be a higher quality market. The BBX will have qualitative listing standards, but no minimum share price, income, or asset requirements. In addition, the BBX will have an electronic trading system to allow order negotiation and automatic execution. This is a major improvement over the current OTCBB system, where market participants must execute customer orders using the telephone. The BBXâs new system will bring increased speed and reliability to trade executions, as well as improve the overall transparency of the marketplace. Companies trading on the BBX will be differentiated from those trading over-the-counter. All BBX issue symbols will begin with the letters âXB,â and, unlike in the current OTCBB, issuers will be able to choose their own three-letter trading symbol to follow the two-letter prefix (e.g., XBAAA). The BBX will offer a significant improvement over the OTCBB for qualifying small companies by increasing liquidity in the market for their securities, augmenting the opportunity to raise equity capital, and conferring the recognition of trading on a listed market. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- www.bbxchange.com