/Standard & Poor's, London, May 24, 07, translation by Standard & Poor's/ - Continuing to pave the way for Islamic investors around the world, Standard & Poor's announced today that it has launched the S&P BRIC Shariah Index. The S&P BRIC Shariah Index is designed to capture the largest and most liquid stocks in Brazil, Russia, India and China that meet criteria of Shariah-law and that currently trade on developed market exchanges - specifically the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, London Stock Exchange, NASDAQ and NYSE..

Standard & Poor's already offers Shariah-compliant versions of its widely used global indices, the S&P 500, the S&P Europe 350 and the S&P Japan 500, as well as the S&P GCC Middle East Shariah Index Series.

" The S&P BRIC Shariah Index feeds into the already powerful lineup of Islamic indices launched over the past six months by Standard & Poor's," says Alka Banerjee, Vice President of Standard & Poor's Index Services. "Each of the constituents within the S&P BRIC Shariah Index is liquid and completely hedge-able. As a result, we are already seeing clients create mutual funds and structured products based upon the index."

To be eligible for inclusion in the S&P BRIC Shariah Index, companies must first be constituents of the S&P/IFCI Index for Brazil, Russia, India and China. Constituents are then screened for Shariah compliance based upon proprietary sectoral and financial ratios. Only those stocks deemed Shariah- compliant are retained for the final universe of the S&P BRIC Shariah Index.

All S&P Shariah Indices are screened by Ratings Intelligence Partners, a Kuwait-based consulting company specialising in the Islamic investment market. Ratings Intelligence Partners researchers interface directly with a dedicated Shariah Supervisory Board. The Board is comprised of a group of Islamic scholars whose role is to interpret business issues as well as financial practices and recommend actions in relation to Shariah index management.

S&P Shariah Indices exclude businesses that offer products and services which are considered unacceptable or non-compliant according to Shariah- law, such as advertising and media (newspapers are allowed, sub-industries are analyzed individually), alcohol, financials, gambling, pork, pornography, tobacco, and the trading of gold and silver as cash on a deferred basis. All S&P Shariah Index constituents are monitored on a daily basis to ensure that the indices maintain strict Shariah compliance.

For more information on the S&P Shariah Indices, including methodology, please visit: www.globalindices.standardandpoors.com.

About Standard & Poor's Index Services

Standard & Poor's Index Services, the world's leading index provider, maintains a wide variety of investable and benchmark indices to meet an array of investor needs. Its family of indices includes the S&P 500, an index with $1.26 trillion invested and $4.45 trillion benchmarked, and the S&P Global 1200, a composite index comprised of seven regional and country headline indices. For more information, please visit www.standardandpoors.com/indices

About Standard & Poor's

Standard & Poor's, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP), is the world's foremost provider of financial market intelligence, including independent credit ratings, indices, risk evaluation, investment research and data. With approximately 8,500 employees, including wholly owned affiliates, located in 21 countries, Standard & Poor's is an essential part of the world's financial infrastructure and has played a leading role for more than 140 years in providing investors with the independent benchmarks they need to feel more confident about their investment and financial decisions. For more information, visit see more

For more information contact: David R. Guarino

Communications

Standard & Poor's

(+1) 212 438 1471

dave_guarino@standardandpoors.com

Matthew McAdam

Communications

Standard & Poor's

(+44) 207 176 3541

matthew_mcadam@standardandpoors.com

[2007-05-25]