NEW YORK - Appoints Michael Hartnett Chairman of the Research Investment Committee and Chief Global Equity Strategist

NEW YORK, June 1 /PRNewswire/ –

Banc of America Securities-Merrill Lynch Research today announced the hire of Ethan Harris as head of North America Economics and David Bianco as head of U.S. Equity Strategy.

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Harris will join from Barclays, formerly Lehman Brothers, where he was the chief U.S. Economist since 2003. Harris is highly recognized in his field and most recently ranked No.1 in the 2008 Wall Street Journal Economic Forecasting survey. He has also been named to the Institutional Investor All-America Fixed-Income Research Team for the past six years, placing No.2 in 2007. Harris will be responsible for formulating and communicating the North America economic outlook and the Fed interest rate call, and will work in partnership with the Rates Strategy Research team on longer term yield curve forecasts. Harris will start in September.

Prior to joining Lehman in 1996, Harris worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York for nine years. Previously, he worked for several years as an international economist at J.P. Morgan. He is also the author of Ben Bernanke’s Fed: The Federal Reserve After Greenspan. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Columbia University, where he was a University Fellow.

Bianco will join from UBS where he most recently served as chief U.S. Equity Portfolio Strategist and head of U.S. Valuation and Accounting Research. Bianco is well known for his analytical rigor and is a highly ranked Institutional Investor analyst in both U.S. Portfolio Strategy and Accounting and Tax Policy. Bianco’s key responsibilities will include the delivery of U.S. Equity Strategy recommendations, including sector, industry, and size and style, forecasting the S&P500 earnings outlook and authoring thematic research. Bianco will start in July.

Prior to joining UBS in 2002, Bianco worked at Deutsche Bank as chief U.S. Quantitative Strategist and at Credit Suisse First Boston as a senior equity analyst. Bianco has also served on the FASB’s Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council since 2005. He is a graduate of The Wharton School, at the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned a BS in Economics. He is also a CFA charterholder.

Harris and Bianco will be based in New York and will report to Adam Quinton, head of Banc of America Securities-Merrill Lynch Global Macro Research.

Banc of America Securities-Merrill Lynch Research also announced strategic leadership changes in the structure of the Global Macro group designed to produce high quality and detailed U.S. and global equity allocation strategies. These include the appointment of Michael Hartnett as chairman of the Research Investment Committee (RIC), which is responsible for identifying the best investment ideas across the Global Research platform and will author the RIC Report. In this role Hartnett will be supported by Joe Zidle, Global Wealth Management Strategist. Hartnett was also named chief Global Equity Strategist, initially tasked with developing a global equity allocation effort working with senior regional equity strategists across the department.

“I am very pleased to have individuals of Ethan and David’s caliber join our Research team and I would like to thank Michael for agreeing to take on these additional responsibilities,” said Quinton. “All three professionals bring extensive knowledge of the markets and economy and will instill the appropriate levels of investment discipline, intellectual drive and client focus necessary to ensure we create innovative investment ideas that meet the desire of both individual and institutional clients to diversify their portfolios and invest locally or globally.”

The goal of Banc of America Securities-Merrill Lynch Research is to be the premier global research franchise, providing clients with exceptional service, value-added investment insights and alpha-generating investment recommendations. Since January 2009, Banc of America Securities-Merrill Lynch Global Research has hired more than 35 analysts globally. The Research team provides recommendations on nearly 3,000 equity securities and 850 corporate bond issuers. The group also provides economic forecasts for approximately 60 countries and recommendations on 40 currencies.

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Source: Banc of America Securities-Merrill Lynch Research

Susan McCabe Walley, Bank of America, +1-212-449-0389, susan_mccabe at ml.com; Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090218/CLW006LOGO