Each year we survey our institutional Limited Partners, 38 of the world's leading financial institutions who account for 1/3 of global IT spending in the financial services industry, to identify new trends and pain points as well as to compare to past findings.  Our 2004 FTVentures IT Outlook has just been completed and we have identified 3 key conclusions:

• Spending is up 2% in 2004 and will hold steady in 2005
• Savings from process improvements define the scope of new spending increases
• Compliance and Business Continuity Planning (BCP) are permanent efforts and they are huge in scope

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A lively and provocative panel on the future of wealth management opened FTVentures’ Annual Partner Conference held at Silverado Country Club in September. Entitled “Wealth Management: The Next Chapter”, it was an engaging discussion by five panelists, well-known in their respective industries, about the evolving mutual fund industry climate and the asset classes that are attracting investors’ attention. Dennis Sheehan, FTVentures’ Senior Advisor and former CEO of The BISYS Group, moderated the panel which included

• Tom Brown, CEO, Second Curve Capital
• Dick Fredericks, Managing Director, Main Management
• Felice Gelman, Managing Partner, SuNOVA Capital
• Thruston Morton, President, Duke Management Company
• David Readerman, Senior Research Analyst, Marsico Capital Management

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Derek Lemke-von Ammon has joined us as Partner, Head of Business Development. Derek has responsibility for our unique business development efforts with our 38 strategic Limited Partners. He will also oversee FTVResources, our research-based platform for delivering market intelligence and value-added information to our investors and portfolio companies, and for creating proprietary insights and transactions to drive FTVentures investment activities. Derek has been actively engaged in the private equity sector as an investor and an advisor for more than 19 years. Derek most recently was the Director of Private Equity at Thomas Weisel Partners and a member of that firm’s five-person Executive Committee.

Morgan Flager joins us as a new Associate on our Software team in San Francisco. Prior to joining FTVentures, Morgan was Director of Business Development for Ingrian Networks where he was responsible for all strategic partnering opportunities for this data security company.

Peter Casella is a new Associate on our Business Services team in our New York office. Peter was most recently with J.P. Morgan in the Strategic Development Group, focused on M&A and other strategic opportunities for the Asset & Wealth Management business.

Dennis Sheehan has joined us as a Senior Advisor. Dennis will be working on investment opportunities with the Business Services team in New York. Dennis is also an adjunct professor at the graduate school of Adelphi University. From January 2003 to 2004, Dennis served as President, CEO, and Director of The BISYS Group, Inc., a leading business process outsourcing company for the financial services industry. He also held the roles of Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice President of Finance. Dennis will join the FTVentures Advisory Board.

Philip Ryan has joined the FTVentures Advisory Board. Phil is currently on sabbatical, but until August, he was a Member of the Executive Board and Chief Financial Officer of Zurich-based Credit Suisse Group, a position he has held since April 1999. Prior to assuming his current role, Philip was Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer as well as a Member of the Operating Committee of Credit Suisse Asset Management, a leading international asset management firm.