BankBoston Emphasizes Managing for Value Strategy At Annual Meeting; CEO Gifford Illustrates Potential and Power of Upcoming Merger.

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 22, 1999--

At the BankBoston Corporation (NYSE:BKB) Annual Meeting of Stockholders held today at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Chairman and CEO Chad Gifford and senior colleagues provided an overview of BankBoston's primary businesses and emphasized that the company is moving forward in a position of strength as it proceeds with an agreement to merge with Fleet Financial Group.

"Ours is a growth company," said Gifford, "and this transaction will allow us to grow even more, creating a better company for customers and shareholders."

Gifford and colleagues Henrique Meirelles, president and COO, and Susannah Swihart, CFO, outlined the major events of 1998:

--The company successfully transformed its corporate relationship bank into a full-service wholesale bank with the acquisition of Robertson Stephens, which is now demonstrating strong returns and synergy targeting growth industries.

--Latin America generated "spectacular" results for BankBoston, despite the economic crisis in Brazil, due to the company positioning itself to perform well regardless of economic conditions. Income increased 39 percent from Brazil and 17 percent from Argentina over 1997 levels. Recent expansion in both countries is producing growth in the customer base ahead of schedule.

--The company's regional bank made significant progress during the last year, particularly in the area of technology banking. BankBoston strengthened its position as the bank with the highest penetration of customers banking online and over the Internet of any bank in the nation (22%).

--Financial results for 1998 included a 10 percent increase in the common dividend. In addition, the company recently reported first quarter 1999 results that exhibited strong earnings growth from the prior quarter.

"While 1998 was a challenging year," said Meirelles, "we can confidently say that BankBoston emerged a stronger, better-managed institution with exciting opportunities and its potential to create value enhanced. We are pleased with the strategic initiatives and successes of the past year, and very proud of the portfolio of businesses we bring to our alliance with Fleet."

Focusing on the upcoming merger, Gifford said there were at least three compelling reasons to merge with Fleet:

--The financial service industry's competitive landscape, which is changing and converging literally at electronic speed;

--Resource constraints increasingly could have hampered developing the scale or products to compete in the markets that represent BankBoston's strengths;

--BankBoston's business mix relative to the size of its balance sheet, which hinders the full value of the bank's businesses from being reflected appropriately for shareholders.

"The creation of the new company," Gifford added, "means this city and region will continue to have a world-class bank headquartered here, committed to a leadership role in community investment as each institution has been in the past. And while many employees feel anxious at this stage in the merger, a strong and growing Fleet Boston will create opportunities for tens of thousands of employees over the long run. The new company," Gifford concluded, "will allow the hard work of the past few years to bear fruit and extend our commitment to managing for value."

BankBoston (NYSE:BKB), with assets of $75.7 billion and some 25,000 employees, is the nation's oldest commercial bank and New England's only global bank. BankBoston is engaged in consumer and business banking in New England; delivering sophisticated financial solutions to corporations and governments nationally and internationally; and full-service banking in leading Latin American markets. The Corporation's common stock is listed on the New York and Boston stock exchanges.