Friends

As most of you already know, today is my last day at DB, so it’s time for me to say goodbye to Deutsche Bank and all of the good friends that I have made in my 9 ½ years here.  I do this with mixed emotions.  I am leaving at a time when I feel extremely proud and pleased in what we have achieved as a team.  I truly believe that we have built an excellent platform and, given the right focus, DB Prime Services is poised to become a top tier/top 3 player in the very near future.  Therefore, my decision to leave is one that was not made easily.  I did not actively seek to leave, but I was presented with an opportunity on the buy side that I have decided will be the next chapter in my career.

We in Prime Services should be very proud of what we have accomplished over this time.  The recently published Global Custodian Prime Brokerage survey where we were second only to Morgan Stanley in Best in Class awards and where we were one of only two firms that achieve 10 out of 10 Top Ratings is a result of hard work and dedication over these past few years.  Congratulations to all.

Recently I came across a memo dated late 2000 requesting that we purchase additional hardware because we were having trouble processing our massive trade volumes of 13,000 trades per day.  We, no doubt about it, have come a long way in a very short time.  While we should be proud of our overall performance there are some specific accomplishments that we have achieved over the years that stick out for me;

   * The creation and continued success of our MAPS product, which opened the door for us to sign many of our top clients and still makes us significant revenues year over year.

   * Being part of the original front office team of 7 who launched the Prime Brokerage business back in 1998/99 (Vince Pfalzer is now the only one left from that original 5 in the U.S. and Julia Kostic remains in the U.K.).  Put this in perspective.  After less than 8 years we have overtaken or tied every other competitor to achieve the most Top Rating awards and the second most Best in Class awards in our industry’s most important survey.  Pretty impressive!

   * Our Enhance Prime Brokerage product, while a standard for us now, was a very long and arduous task for us to complete, (right, Mr. Duffy??).  We would not be where we are now without it.

   * We were the first to combine SEF, SL and PB to form Prime Services.  A structure that is now an industry norm.

   * The original DB committed facility product has become the standard by which competitors are compared.

   * Launching the successful Client Reporting Group and GlobalPrime web site, now masterfully managed by Eamon McCooey

   * The creation and subsequent expansion and global acceptance of C-Port, our global consolidated reporting database.  This database structure was the starting point for Fred Bird and team to create DBX and know serves as the foundation for all of our reporting, both internally and externally.  (btw, the name “C-Port” was first coined in 1997 when we were still at Natwest with our offices overlooking the Greenwich marina (or Seaport)).

   * Most recently the launching of the Geneva Implementation project (most of you know how huge that was for me.)

   * And, of course, WHITE CASTLE (I still think Dennis Goh cheated)!!

I thank each and every one of you who I have included on this email and will miss working with you.  You have made this roller coaster ride successful and rewarding, both professionally and personally.  While I consider all of you a part of my past success here at DB (and I know I probably forgot to include some), I would be remiss if I didn’t specifically thank certain individuals by name.  Eamon McCooey (who, it has been said, has bad knees because he’s been carrying me on his back all these years), Pete Brophy and the entire CRG and PD teams, Mark Haas, Jon Hitchon, Sean Crowley, Fred Bird, Rich Kennedy, Jill Rathjen, Penry Jackson, Steve Yurkiewicz, Jonathan Chapman, Marcelo Riffaud, Adrienne Browning, Jim Duffy, John Nave, Chris Caruso, Don Copans, Vince Pfalzer, Julia Kostic, Frank Nelson, Keith Angell and Linda Neithardt.  Each and every one of you were in the trenches with me somewhere along the journey, so thank you.

Good luck to each of you in the future and I wish Prime Services continued success.

Peace

Tom (aka, TK, Hit Man, the Professor and Grandpa)