Thomson will integrate the Allegiance technology into its Corporate Governance Reporting Solution, which allows employees, customers, shareholders and other stakeholders to anonymously and confidentially report unethical and illegal behavior.

Ethics and whistleblower services have become increasingly important to organizations as a result of recent corporate scandals and the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX). Section 301 of SOX requires that organizations establish procedures for receiving accounting or auditing complaints from employees in a confidential manner. These feedback forums have expanded to allow virtually any interested stakeholder within or outside the organization to communicate with corporate management in a convenient and confidential manner.

With the help of Allegiance advanced technology, organizations have the means to capture, manage, analyze and respond to feedback from a variety of sources. Once information is captured via the Web or on the phone, it is categorized and then routed to the appropriate manager or board member responsible, and if necessary, for responding in a timely and appropriate manner. The Web-based system can be managed from a single location and accessed from virtually any computer with Internet access. The phone hotline is available worldwide, 24 hours a day, seven days a week and is capable of handling more than 150 languages.

"We are pleased to be working with Thomson Financial in an effort to help strengthen the company's governance and compliance offerings," said Adam Edmunds, president and chief executive officer of Allegiance. "Our technology has proven to be an effective way for companies to capture valuable feedback from their constituents, deter and react to inappropriate behavior and meet the government regulations established through Sarbanes-Oxley."

"Allegiance provides a complete hotline and ethics reporting system that allows our customers to mitigate risk, protect anonymity, and fulfill SOX 301 requirements while providing a safe communication channel for all employees," said David Bairstow, vice president for product development, Thomson Financial. "Our Governance Reporting Solution is an integral piece of our overall corporate governance and compliance suite. We want our financial community customers to have the best tools available to them, and we feel that with Allegiance, we now have the best solution that truly complements our entire offering."

Thomson Financial's Corporate Governance Reporting Solution is part of the company's tools for online corporate governance disclosure. Stakeholders will be able to access the service through their organization's investor relations Web site or Intranet.