Nearly two-thirds of all U.S. equity investors now hold foreign equities through ownership of individual stock in foreign companies or ownership of international or global mutual funds, up from about half in 2002

The Bank of New York reported on Monday that both investment and trading value in American and global depositary receipts (DRs) surpassed $1 trillion for the first time in 2005. More than 1,900 sponsored DRs for issuers from 73 countries are now available to investors.

As part of its analysis, The Bank of New York also reported that the DR market had strong levels of capital raisings in 2005.

"The $1 trillion milestones underscore the significant and growing role DRs play in broadening the market to both issuers and investors alike, a trend which we expect to continue in 2006," said Christopher Sturdy, managing director and Head of The Bank of New York's Depositary Receipt Division.

Growing Investment in Depositary Receipts

According to the Bank's analysis, the total value of investment in DRs exceeded $1 trillion at the end of the third quarter. Investment values in U.S.-listed DRs totaled $657 billion on September 30, 2005, a jump of 36 percent from the same time last year. Overall value of investment in European-listed DRs was estimated to be $225 billion and investment in over-the-counter-traded and other DRs was estimated to be $120 billion.

Companies with more than $20 billion in DR investment as of September 30, 2005 included the U.K.'s BP ($82.7 billion), Royal Dutch Shell ($36.1 billion), Vodafone ($20.9 billion) and GlaxoSmithKline ($20.9 billion), Russia's Lukoil ($31.6 billion), Mexico's America Movil ($25.7 billion) and Brazil's Petrobras ($23.7 billion).

According to the latest U.S. Federal Reserve statistics as of September 30th, 2005, the total value of U.S. investment in non-U.S. equities (both DRs and shares) increased to $2.8 trillion, an increase of 29 percent from the same time last year. The statistics show that investment in non-U.S. equities now comprises 15.8 percent of all U.S. equity investment. Furthermore, U.S. net inflows into international and global stock funds were projected to reach nearly $150 billion in 2005, outpacing inflows into U.S. domestic funds for the first time in 15 years, according to Strategic Insight, a research firm.

Indeed, according to a report from The Investment Company Institute/Securities Industry Association, nearly two-thirds of all U.S. equity investors now hold foreign equities through ownership of individual stock in foreign companies or ownership of international or global mutual funds, up from about half in 2002.

Depositary Receipt Trading Value and Volume Grow 17% and 5%, Respectively

The Bank reported that nearly $1.2 trillion of DRs traded on U.S. and non-U.S. markets and exchanges in 2005. In the U.S., 39.2 billion DRs, valued at a $1 trillion, traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), NASDAQ and the American Stock Exchange, representing increases of 5 percent in DR trading volume and 17 percent in trading value. Annual U.S.-listed DR trading volume has increased each year since 1990, while this year's DR trading value is second only to 2000's record of $1.1 trillion.

DR trading on exchanges outside the U.S. also showed growth. In 2005, more than $130 billion in DRs, a 19 percent increase from 2004, traded on the London Stock Exchange's International Order Book, the primary non-U.S. trading market for DRs.

At least 27 issuers from 16 countries posted annual DR trading value in excess of $10 billion. Among these are China's Baidu.com and Netease.com, France's Total, Ireland's Elan, Israel's Teva Pharmaceutical, Mexico's America Movil, Finland's Nokia, Russia's Gazprom and Lukoil and the U.K.'s BP, GlaxoSmithKline, Royal Dutch Shell and Vodafone.

The Bank of New York's ADR Index Outperforms Major U.S. Indices

Overall DR performance, as tracked by The Bank of New York ADR Index(SM), posted solid returns during 2005. On December 31, 2005, The Bank of New York's Composite ADR Index closed at 134.56, up 9.7 percent, trading at its five-year high. All three of the regional sub-indices and 12 of 14 market, sector and select sub-indices ended higher. More broadly, 30 of 39 country indices were up, led by the Latin American indices of Argentina, Brazil and Mexico which each had gains in excess of 40 percent on the year.

Denmark's EuroTrust A/S was the year's best-performing ADR Index constituent, returning more than 165 percent. Other triple-digit increases were posted by Russia's Tatneft and Japan's Internet Initiative Japan, among others.

In contrast, the U.S. domestic equity markets were generally flat. As of December 31, 2005, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.61 percent while the broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 3 percent.

 Index Name                                           Y-T-D Increase
 The Bank of New York Composite ADR Index                 9.7 %

 The Bank of New York Latin America ADR Index            47.6%
 The Bank of New York Europe ADR Index                        5.5%
 The Bank of New York Asia ADR Index                           16.9%

 The Bank of New York Emerging Markets ADR Index      33.8%
 The Bank of New York Developed Markets ADR Index      7.3%

The Bank of New York ADR Index(SM) is the only real-time index to track all depositary receipts, New York shares and global registered shares traded on the NYSE, Amex and NASDAQ. The Bank of New York ADR Index currently has 441 constituents and a free float market capitalization, as defined by Dow Jones & Company, in excess of $5.8 trillion.

Annual DR Establishment Grows; DR Capital Raisings Show Strength

The Bank reports that companies from 36 countries established 162 new DR programs during the year, compared to 126 programs from 29 countries during 2004. More than 20 percent of the year's new DR programs were established by companies from India, including Patni Computer Systems, UTI Bank and Essar Projects and more than 10 percent were established by companies from Australia, including Macquarie Bank, Austal and Solbec Pharmaceuticals. Industry wide, the Bank reports a record 1,915 sponsored DR programs for issuers from 73 countries were available to investors at year-end 2005.

During 2005, 106 new DR offerings by non-U.S. companies and governments raised $32.5 billion, a significant increase over 2004's full-year total of $11.3 billion in 53 new DR offerings. As expected, emerging market DR issuers dominated. Issuers from India, Taiwan and Brazil, accounted for the majority of all DR capital raisings by number of transactions while issuers from Taiwan, the U.K., Korea, and Russia accounted for the largest amounts of capital raised.

Asian emerging market issuers raised more than $17.4 billion using DRs during 2005, led by the $2.6 billion follow-on offering by Chunghwa Telecom, the single largest DR capital raising of all time. Four other follow-on offerings in excess of $1 billion in DRs were completed by LG Philips LCD, Hynix Semiconductor and SK Telecom in Korea and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing. A number of initial public offerings (IPOs) were also completed by Asian companies. Among these were eight Chinese companies that successfully completed IPOs and listed on NASDAQ or the NYSE: Actions Semiconductor, Baidu.com, China Medical Technologies, China Techfaith Wireless, Focus Media, Hurray! Holding, Suntech Power Holdings and Vimicro. Baidu.com was particularly notable because it was the best performing foreign or domestic IPO on all U.S. stock exchanges during 2005, soaring more than 350 percent on its first day of trading.

In the European, Middle Eastern and African emerging markets, four Russian companies dominated DR capital-raising with Sistema, Novolipetsk Metal Works, Pyaterochka Holding and Evraz Holding raising more than $3.4 billion combined in IPO transactions. In the Middle East, the privatization of Telecom Egypt was a successfully completed DR capital raising as were two other transactions, both the first DR programs from their countries, Investcom from Lebanon and BankMuscat from Oman.

In Latin America, Brazil's Submarino, Chile's Inversiones Aguas Metropolitanas and Mexico's AXTEL successfully completed IPOs using DRs, while Mexico's Cemex and FEMSA and Brazil's UNIBANCO and GOL Airlines tapped the market with follow-on DR offerings.

Issuers from the developed markets completed only eight DR capital raising transactions during the year. Six of these transactions, valued at $5.5 billion, were preference share issues by four large U.K. banks, Barclays Bank, HBOS, HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland. Belgium's RHJ International accounted for the only other sizable DR capital raising transaction in the developed markets, raising more than $1 billion.

DR Listings on U.S. Stock Exchanges Remain Flat While Listings on Non-U.S. Stock Markets Continue to Grow

Continuing a four-year trend, the number of new U.S. stock exchange listings of DRs remained relatively flat. During 2005, 29 new DRs were listed on the NYSE, NASDAQ and Amex, three more than during 2004. Over the past year, several DR issuers left the U.S. listed markets for a variety of reasons including mergers, acquisitions, deregistration and financial difficulty. As a result, 490 DR programs are now listed on the NYSE, NASDAQ and Amex, a decrease from 496 at year-end 2004.

Non-U.S. stock exchanges continued to challenge the major U.S. exchanges for emerging market DR listings. In 2005, 44 companies completed new DR listings on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and the Luxembourg Stock Exchange (LuxSE), the two primary non-U.S. DR listing markets, bringing the total number of listed DRs on these exchanges to 302. Three other non-U.S. stock exchanges saw DR listings for the first time in 2005. The Korean steel company POSCO listed DRs on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, Lebanon's Investcom listed DRs on the Dubai International Financial Exchange and Bangladesh's Beximco Pharma listed on London's AIM market.

The Bank of New York claims leadership

During 2005, the Bank had a strong year across a broad range of metrics, acting for 66 percent of all new DR programs and 60 percent of all DR capital raising transactions.

The Bank continues to attract experienced DR issuers as well. During 2005, the U.K.'s Royal Dutch Shell and Mexico's America Movil, two of the largest DR programs in the world as measured by total DR investment, switched to The Bank of New York. France's Thomson, the U.K.'s J Sainsbury, Mexico's Vitro and Egypt's Al-Ezz Steel Rebars also switched their DR programs to the Bank from other depositary banks. The Royal Dutch Shell switch was particularly notable because it was the 200th DR program switched to the Bank from its competitors since 1990.

In total, the Bank acts as sponsored depositary for more than 1,200 American and global depositary receipt programs acting in partnership with leading companies from 60 countries. With an unrivalled commitment to helping securities issuers succeed in the world's rapidly evolving financial markets, the Bank delivers the industry's most comprehensive suite of integrated depositary receipt, corporate trust and stock transfer services.

The Bank of New York Company, Inc. (NYSE: BK) is a global leader in providing a comprehensive array of services that enable institutions and individuals to move and manage their financial assets in more than 100 markets worldwide. The Company has a long tradition of collaborating with clients to deliver innovative solutions through its core competencies: securities servicing, treasury management, investment management, and individual & regional banking services. The Company's extensive global client base includes a broad range of leading financial institutions, corporations, government entities, endowments and foundations. Its principal subsidiary, The Bank of New York, founded in 1784, is the oldest bank in the United States and has consistently played a prominent role in the evolution of financial markets worldwide. Additional information is available at www.bankofny.com.

Research Approach: The total value of investment in DR is derived by multiplying DRs outstanding by DR price. All DR price figures are publicly available from the applicable stock exchange or trading market. The number of DRs outstanding for The Bank of New York DR programs was derived from internal reporting sources. The number of DRs outstanding from non-Bank of New York sponsored U.S.-listed issues was derived from publicly available figures provided by the NYSE and NASDAQ. DRs outstanding for European-listed and OTC-traded issues that are not The Bank of New York DRs were estimated by The Bank of New York using publicly available information including, but not limited to, company reports and SEC 13-F shareholder data.