NASD to Close Mid-Atlantic Dispute Resolution Office October 6, 2006

INFORMATIONAL

Dispute Resolution

Executive Summary

Effective October 6, 2006, NASD will close its Mid-Atlantic Dispute Resolution Office. All arbitration cases currently assigned to the Mid-Atlantic Region will continue to be administered by that office until parties are notified in writing that the case has been reassigned. On June 12, 2006, NASD realigned the regional office assignments for several of its 68 hearing locations. All new cases filed on or after June 12, 2006 have been assigned according to the new hearing location assignment plan. A map and complete listing of the new hearing location assignments can be found at www.nasd.com/arbitration_mediation/hearing_locations.

NASD will continue to offer 68 hearing venues, including one in each state of the United States, Puerto Rico and London, UK. We will not be closing any of our remaining four regional offices.

Questions/Further Information

Questions regarding this Notice may be directed to Shari L. Sturm, Associate Vice President and Director of the Mid-Atlantic Region, at (202) 728-8828.

Discussion

As of June 12, 2006, all new arbitration cases that would have been assigned to the Mid-Atlantic Region in the past were assigned to the Southeast, Midwest and Northeast regional offices. In addition, existing cases are being shifted to the other regional offices in phases. Hearing locations have been allocated as follows:

NASD looks forward to continuing to provide quality dispute resolution services to the investing public, members, arbitrators and mediators.