Business Continuity Planning Information Notice

At Franklin Templeton Investments, we recognize how heavily our clients rely on our services. We also recognize that the unexpected can and does occur, from simple outages to major incidents affecting multiple sites. We have successfully supported critical business activities during disruptions of normal business processes from both natural and man-made disasters, including hurricanes, fires, September 11th and other events. We want you to know that we have plans in place to help safeguard your assets and protect vital account information in the event of a business disruption.

Franklin Templeton Investments and its affiliated companies, including Fiduciary Trust Company International, Franklin/Templeton Distributors Inc., Templeton/Franklin Investment Services Inc. and Franklin Templeton Financial Services Corp., ("Franklin Templeton") have Crisis Management, Business Continuity and technology Disaster Recovery plans. In addition, Franklin Templeton Investments has dedicated business continuity planners on staff to assist in preparing and testing of plans.

Franklin Templeton Investments (FTI) Contingency Planning Guidelines

Franklin Templeton plans are developed around specific corporate-wide guidelines. As such, FTI has developed plans that include the ability to recover from various situations including, but not limited to, unplanned evacuations, power outages, fire, severe weather, intentional acts, and facilities failures that may cause interruptions to our business. Our plans address the ability to recover critical functions according to their time criticality. In order to maintain secure and effective plans, FTI does not provide the specific details in this notice, but you should be aware that FTI's corporate disaster recovery planning includes the following:

• Identification and recovery of mission critical systems to include telecommunications.
• Replication, back up and recovery for critical information.
• Alternate and redundant communications between Franklin Templeton and its customers.
• Alternate communications with and alternate locations for employees.
• Regulatory reporting and communications with regulators.
• Review of financial and operational risks.

Franklin Templeton Investments Contingency Planning and Business Recovery

Franklin Templeton actively identifies and seeks to mitigate risks to reduce potential issues and their impact. In the event of an outage or other site-specific problems, Franklin Templeton has plans in place to support recovery of its critical business systems and functions. In addition to the guidelines stated above, Franklin Templeton's recovery plans also include the following:

• Designated Contingency Sites and Seamless Client Contact - There are pre-established and tested processes for rerouting of critical telephone and computer systems. Customers should experience minimal downtime in their ability to contact Franklin Templeton. Within a minimal period of time, customers would be able to re-attempt contact via FTI's published toll free telephone numbers, or the FTI website.
• Access to Your Funds - An outage should not impact your ability to have access to your available funds, as Franklin Templeton Investments business continuity plans are designed to help ensure sustained service. However, factors outside Franklin Templeton's control, such as the market closure following the September 11 tragedy, may impact our ability to service our customers.

Please note that Franklin Templeton Investments' Business Continuity Plans are reviewed and tested as necessary, and at least annually, to ensure they account for technology, business and regulatory changes. The plans are subject to change, and material changes to our approach will be reflected in an updated Business Continuity Planning Information Notice that will be posted on our website. You may obtain a current written copy of this notice by contacting a Franklin Templeton representative.