The WM Swiss Pension Fund Index returned 2.4 percent for the quarter, in line with the comparable Pictet BVG/LPP-40 Index return of 2.5 percent for the quarter. "A strong fourth quarter contributed more than a third of the solid 6.6 percent index return in 2006," said Reto Tschäppeler, vice president and head of WM Performance Services in Zurich. "Equity markets once again provided the most consistent positive performance from a Swiss investor’s perspective. The favourable performance trend of Swiss pension funds in 2006 will further release pressure from their funding levels."

WM also today released its analysis of the Swiss trading costs for the fourth quarter. These costs, incurred across an extensive range of equity trades executed at the Swiss Stock Exchange, represent around two-thirds of the overall asset management costs in Switzerland, and serve as a valuable indication of the cost effectiveness and best execution practice for both asset managers and pension fund trustees. Total cost – consisting of commissions, fees and market impact – decreased by 1.8 percent for Switzerland from last quarter. All three cost components contributed to this decrease (see attached chart). The Global Trading Cost Analysis of WM, provided in association with Elkins/McSherry (a wholly owned subsidiary of State Street Corporation), shows an even bigger decrease of 3.0 percent in Q4 for the total global equity trading costs across Elkins/McSherry's global universe. With 41.8 basis points of principal traded, the global universe remains on a considerably higher level of expenses than the Swiss equity equivalent.

Notes to Editors

WM Performance Services is one of the world's leading investment performance measurement businesses and is the European performance measurement division of State Street Corporation. Based in Edinburgh, London, Amsterdam, Paris, Frankfurt and Zurich, WM measures more than 5,000 investment portfolios based in the key global investment centres and provides an extensive range of services to support better investment decisions.

State Street Corporation is the world’s leading specialist in providing institutional investors with investment servicing, investment management and investment research and trading services. With $11.9 trillion in assets under custody and $1.7 trillion in assets under management as of December 31, 2006, State Street operates in 26 countries and more than 100 geographic markets worldwide. For more information, visit State Street’s website at www.statestreet.com.

Elkins/McSherry, LLC , a wholly owned subsidiary of State Street Corporation, is a leading trading cost consultant that provides customised trade execution analysis reports. The detailed information on trading costs, commissions, fees and market impact is reported by manager, broker and country against a universe of institutional trades. The database consists of over 20 million trades per quarter deriving from 1,400 investment managers and 2,000 brokers in 42 global markets. For more information, visit Elkins/McSherry's website at www.elkinsmcsherry.com.