Bank of America Global Treasury Services -GTS- Announces Membership to Korea's Giro System; Move to Strengthen Bank of America Payables Capability in Korea.

Business Editors

SINGAPORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 18, 2002

Bank of America Global Treasury Services (GTS) division today announced its membership in Korea's Giro system.

The Korea Giro, run by the Korea Financial Telecommunications & Clearing Institute (KFTC), enables 36,000 institutions (mainly corporations and government agencies) to execute payments and collections and directly transfer funds between accounts at the participating banks (instead of exchanging cash or cheques). This allows all participating bank branches to act as a paying or receiving window.

"The move to Giro membership illustrates the commitment of Bank of America to our clients doing business in Korea and further strengthens our cash management capabilities in greater Asia," said Kathy Sifer, who leads Bank of America Global Treasury Services - Asia.

The system supports Paper Based Giro (pre-printed and encoded paper instruments paid over the banks' counter), Electronic Direct Credits (at the request of the payer, funds are transferred from the payer's account into the recipient's account) and Direct Debits (based upon a mutual agreement, charges are collected from the account of the payer to the account of the billing institution).

"Bank of America has fully integrated the Giro system with our core platforms, i.e. the Payment Network for file delivery and the Global Banking System (GBS) for back-end processing. This allows clients to continue using their existing platforms as a single point of delivery for all Asia payables/collections," said Daniel Tay, who leads product management for Bank of America Global Treasury Services in Asia.

Bank of America plans to complement its Korea Giro capability by joining KFTC IFT later in 2002. This service will provide Bank of America clients with same day payment capabilities, which will help to further strengthen its treasury management operations in Korea.

About Bank of America

One of the world's leading financial services companies, Bank of America is committed to making financial services work for its customers. Through innovative technologies and the ingenuity of its people, Bank of America provides corporate and institutional clients around the world with new and better ways to manage their financial lives. Bank of America has 31 international offices serving clients in over 150 countries and an Internet Web site that provides online access for more than 3 million customers, more than any other bank. Bank of America has been in Asia for more than 50 years and operates in 12 countries in the region with over 2000 employees on the ground. It is a market leader in Global Treasury Services and constantly works to develop creative solutions for its strong list of multinational and indigenous clients across Asia. In the United States, Bank of America enables customers to do their banking and investing whenever, wherever and however they choose through the nation's largest financial services network, including approximately 4,400 domestic offices and 13,000 ATMs.

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