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New Software From CCH Helps Companies Avoid Insider Trading Violations

(RIVERWOODS, ILL., August 14, 2002) – Companies that are serious about preventing conflicts of interest between the business they do and the personal securities trading of their employees now can tap into rList™, a browser-based tool from CCH INCORPORATED (CCH), a leading provider of securities law information and software. rList, developed in conjunction with CCH’s Compliance Tools Incorporated (CTI) subsidiary, offers one of the most direct and efficient ways for a firm to formulate best practices for their securities audit and tracking program and to enforce compliance with insider trading rules and restrictions.

"Whether you consider the New York Stock Exchanges proposed code of ethics, the recently passed Sarbanes-Oxley Act on corporate reform or the outcry from shareholders, it’s clear that individuals and lawmakers want companies and their advisors to adhere to stricter insider trading and corporate governance rules," said Peter Berkery, publisher for CCH’s Securities Group.

"However, there can be dozens or even hundreds of individuals within or advising a large company that are privy to information that has an effect on the price of publicly traded securities," said Berkery. There’s always the risk that these access persons could misuse this information, particularly for front running, a type of insider trading where an access person attempts to profit from prior knowledge of an event by buying or selling securities."

Built by securities trade regulation experts, rList allows organizations to maintain surveillance of their employees’ personal trading against one or more restricted lists on a pre-trade and/or post-trade basis, thereby monitoring against trading activity that is illegal or does not conform to a company’s policy.

rList accepts employee trade requests covering all security types, including options and derivatives. It also supports multiple restricted lists, for example, restricting insider trading of company stock during blackout periods or other prohibited times. Companies also can add other stocks to the restricted list, for example, potential acquisition targets or pending business deals such as partnerships or contract awards.

In addition to publicly traded organizations, accounting, merger and acquisition, law, consulting and other types of professional firms that have access to information affecting public companies can use rList to ensure that their employees do not trade on insider information.

rList is fast and easy to use for both administrators and employees. Administrators set security and access parameters as well as maintain the restricted lists, which can be sorted in a variety of ways, including by employee type or business unit.

When an employee logs on to rList and enters a trade request, rList instantaneously checks the trade request against the lists of restricted securities created by the company. The employee’s trade request then is either approved or rejected depending on how his or her status as an access person compares with the restricted lists.

The company’s data is secure and private, maintained on the company’s own in-house servers, while rList components are browser-based and run on the company’s Intranet. Users don’t need to download or install any applications.

Comprehensive Reporting Capabilities

rList’s in-depth reports allow company compliance officers to retrieve many types of reports including:

• Trade request reports, which catalog employee requests
• Restricted list reports, which list securities and or issuers that are restricted
• Trade comparison reports, which identify patterns of potential insider trading

rList is available immediately. For complete pricing information, contact your CCH Sales Representative at 888 CCH REPS (1-888-224-7377) or e-mail rlistinfo@cch.com.

About CCH INCORPORATED

CCH INCORPORATED, founded in 1913, has served four generations of business professionals and their clients. The company produces approximately 700 print and electronic products for securities, tax, legal, banking, securities, human resources, health care and small business markets. CCH is a wholly owned subsidiary of Wolters Kluwer North America. The CCH web site can be accessed at cch.com.  The CCH Business and Finance Securities Group site can be accessed at business.cch.com/securitieslaw.

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