Citibank Agency and Trust, a business within Citigroup Corporate and Investment Banking, is a preeminent provider of trustee, account bank and custodial services and has provided corporate trust services for more than 100 years. Virtus Partners was founded on the premise that the combination of traditional collateral administrative services and advanced software-analytics through a seamless, real-time delivery mechanism will meet the market's needs for superior collateral administrative services. By separating traditional trustee duties from collateral administration, Virtus Partners can more effectively focus on providing best-in-class administrative services to collateral management firms beyond compliance testing and standard reporting.

Karen Montbach, managing director and product manager of the Agency and Trust business, is enthusiastic about the relationship and said, "The CDO market continues to expand and change, creating opportunity for Agency and Trust and Virtus Partners. Our relationship with Virtus Partners and our entry into the U.S. CDO market are an important part of our strategy to provide value to our U.S. clients."

Similarly, Joe Elston, Virtus' managing director for sales and marketing, said, "We are very excited about the numerous possibilities and tailored solutions that our relationship with Citigroup will provide the fixed-income market. This new approach, undoubtedly, will engender a different perspective and strategic outlook for market participants about how and what administrative services should be."

Citigroup and Virtus will begin joint marketing in January 2006.