LTP Trade Finance IndexÖ - March 2003 performance update

This is significantly above the 0.72% returned in the same period of 2002. On the whole the first 3 months of 2003 have been characterized by steady returns. Volatility appears to have contracted with the range of monthly returns seen so far this year being 0.25% to 0.34%, which starkly contrasts with the 0.12% to 0.66% range seen in the last quarter of 2002. The best performing region has been Latin America, where overall credit margins in the LATAM index have contracted by 35 basis points over the first quarter of 2003.