Columbia Management Group Launches 529 College Savings Plan Designed for a Challenging Investment Market.

Business Editors

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 12, 2003

Range of Investment Options and Upromise Rewards are Key Features of Plan

Columbia Management Group, Inc., the asset management arm of FleetBoston Financial (NYSE:FBF), today announced the launch of the Columbia 529 Plan, a college savings vehicle that offers a diverse array of investment options and asset allocation features to address changing market conditions. Building upon lessons learned since tax-advantaged college savings plans were first introduced in 1996, the Columbia 529 Plan enables investors to navigate both challenging markets and bull markets by allowing them to spread assets across as many as 25 Portfolios. Portfolios available through the Plan invest in funds from a variety of well-known managers, with a range of styles and asset classes.

Features of the Columbia 529 Plan, which is offered through independent advisors and the nation's largest brokerage firms, include an opportunity to increase savings through an arrangement with the Upromise Rewards Service. In a current feature expected to be attractive to investors who want to diversify out of a load fund with a poor performance record, initial sales charges will be waived on assets transferred to the Columbia 529 Plan when those assets are from a redemption of shares from any mutual fund company on which an investor paid an initial sales charge previously. The Plan also features an automated dollar cost averaging program to address market risk associated with large, lump-sum contributions.

"The Columbia 529 Plan couldn't come at a better time for investors served by financial advisors," said Jim Tambone, Co-President, Liberty Funds Distributor, Inc. "College savings plans are evolving to meet the needs of investors, who are better educated on their potential college expenses and the options for meeting their college savings goals. By launching this plan now, we are able to select the features most desired by investors and offer them together in one plan."

The Columbia 529 Plan supplements the best of the Liberty and Columbia lineup with the large-cap and international expertise of Marsico Capital Management, LLC and OppenheimerFunds, Inc. The Plan utilizes those funds in its three flexible investment approaches designed to fit each investor's unique time horizon and risk tolerance. "Investors are accustomed to seeing multi-manager offerings in their retirement plans, and they have come to expect the same in their college savings plans," Tambone said. "By fortifying our lineup with top-shelf offerings from other firms, Columbia Management is providing investors with what we believe are the best possible tools for diversification and asset allocation."

The potential "yield kick" from the Upromise Rewards service, which allows investors to earn rebates on their purchases at tens of thousands of retail locations was pointed out by Doug Stotz, Managing Director of Strategy at Columbia Management Group. "Since 1980, tuition and fees at both public and private universities have increased annually at an average rate of 8 percent - a cumulative tuition increase of 315 percent," said Stotz. "Using a credit card and earning contributions on everyday spending such as gas, groceries, dining out, and long distance phone calls, a Upromise family can save hundreds for college each year, which can add up. These rebates can be transferred automatically into a Columbia 529 account, where a $400 contribution would represent an 8 percent additional return on a $5,000 investment."

NAV Transfer Program and Dollar Cost Averaging

Columbia Management has introduced a NAV transfer program which will currently allow investors who redeem shares on which they paid an initial sales charge from any mutual fund company to put that money into the Columbia 529 Plan without an initial sales charge. The fee waiver is intended to ease the transition for investors who want to diversify out of a load fund with a poor performance record.

The Plan also features an automated dollar cost averaging program. Investors can make a lump-sum contribution of at least $5,000 to the Columbia Short Term Bond 529 Portfolio within the Plan, and direct a minimum amount of $100 per portfolio to be transferred monthly to the Portfolio(s) selected by the investor. As the price of each Portfolio fluctuates, the monthly allocation buys more units of a portfolio when its price is lower, and fewer when it is higher. As a result, the average unit price paid for each portfolio may be lower over time, reducing the effects of market volatility. Dollar cost averaging may be an important risk control for large gift contributions, which are allowed for 529 plans.

In support of its 529 plan, Columbia Management has added a new section to the Liberty Funds web site (www.libertyfunds.com), which can be accessed directly through www.columbia529.com. This section contains detailed information on each of the portfolios, including daily pricing and performance, educational materials and planning calculators, plus access to the Upromise Rewards Service and a password-protected site containing account information.

About the Columbia 529 Plan

Bringing together some of the nation's best-known fund families, the Columbia 529 Plan offers investors a broad range of quality investment choices. A majority of the investments that underlie the Columbia 529 Plan portfolios are Liberty and Columbia products, augmented by outside-managed products from OppenheimerFunds, Inc. and Marsico Capital Management. Within the Columbia 529 Plan, investors have the flexibility to choose from three investment approaches - age-based, asset allocation and customized investment portfolios. The age-based portfolios invest in sub-portfolios based on the beneficiary's time horizon - that is, the time until the beneficiary enters college. As the beneficiary ages, the assets will be automatically transferred to more conservative portfolios. A second approach, using asset allocation models, is based on investment style and risk tolerance. Assets in these portfolios will be reallocated only at the request of the investor, rather than automatically, as in the age-based option. The third approach provides custom portfolios through which an investor or advisor can select any combination of portfolios that invest in single underlying funds.

The Columbia 529 Plan is sponsored by the State of Nevada through a program administered by the Board of Trustees of the College Savings Plans of Nevada, which is chaired by Brian K. Krolicki, Nevada State Treasurer.

Age-Based Portfolios    Contributions are invested in the Asset
                        Allocation Portfolio with the risk profile
                        tailored to the Beneficiary's age.
                        Investments in this option will automatically
                        be shifted from more aggressive Asset
                        Allocation Portfolios to more conservative
                        Asset Allocation Portfolios as the
                        beneficiary ages.

Asset Allocation Models Investors can choose from among six Portfolios
                        (which are based on investment style and
                        tolerance for risk).  Transfer from one Asset
                        Allocation Portfolio to another Asset
                        Allocation Portfolio (or any other portfolio)
                        occurs only at the investor's instruction.

Customized Portfolios   Investors may select from among multiple
                        Portfolios, each of which invests all or
                        substantially all of its assets in a single
                        underlying mutual fund.  This option can be
                        used to target one or more asset classes or
                        to build a custom asset allocation model.
                        Transfer from one Customized Portfolio to any
                        other Portfolio occurs only at the investor's
                        instruction.

Underlying funds for the Columbia 529 Plan Portfolios include:

-- Columbia High Yield Fund

-- Columbia International Stock Fund

-- Columbia Real Estate Equity Fund

-- Columbia Short Term Bond Fund

-- Columbia Special Fund

-- Liberty Acorn Fund

-- Liberty Acorn International Fund

-- Liberty Acorn Twenty Fund

-- Liberty Acorn USA Fund

-- Liberty Growth & Income Fund

-- Liberty Growth Stock Fund

-- Liberty Intermediate Bond Fund

-- Liberty Money Market Fund

-- Liberty Select Value Fund

-- Liberty Small Cap Fund

-- Marsico Focus Fund

-- Marsico Growth Fund

-- Oppenheimer Global Fund

-- Oppenheimer Main Street Fund

Upromise Investments, Inc., a wholly owned broker dealer subsidiary (member NASD/SIPC) of Upromise, Inc, will provide certain program management, and certain administrative and record-keeping services to the Columbia 529 Plan.

About Upromise Rewards

Upromise Rewards is a free service that helps America's leading companies give families money back for college. Upromise's contributing companies include America Online, AT&T, ExxonMobil, General Motors, McDonald's, iDine, Century 21(R), Coldwell Banker(R), Countrywide Home Loans, ERA(R), Staples, New York Life, Circuit City, American Airlines, and Avis(R). Members can also save when they shop at participating grocery and drug store chains and purchase thousands of grocery items from leading brands, including Coca-Cola(R), Kellogg's(R), Huggies(R), Tide(R), GLAD(R) and Tylenol(R). Launched in April 2001, Upromise Rewards has more than three million members.

About Columbia Management Group:

Columbia Management Group, Inc. has about $140 billion in investment assets under management (as of March 30, 2003), ranking it among the world's 30 largest investment managers. This includes approximately $40 billion in long-term mutual fund assets under management, placing the Columbia Management Group among the top 25 U.S. mutual fund managers. Columbia Management's investment portfolio is diversified by asset classes, with approximately 40 percent in equity, 40 percent in fixed income and 20 percent in money market funds.

Fleet Boston Financial (NYSE:FBF), of which Columbia Management Group is the asset management arm, is the seventh-largest financial holding company in the United States. A $200 billion diversified financial-services company, it offers a comprehensive array of innovative financial solutions to 20 million customers.

Please note that equity investments are affected by stock market fluctuations that occur in response to economic and business developments; stocks of smaller companies pose special risks, including possible illiquidity and greater price volatility than the stocks of larger, more established companies; global investing poses special risks, including those related to economic and political developments, as well as currency fluctuations; bond investments are affected by interest rate changes and the creditworthiness of the issues held by the funds; high-yield investing poses additional credit risk related to lower-rated bonds.

Because the dollar cost averaging method involves monthly transfers from the Columbia Short Term Bond 529 Portfolio regardless of fluctuating price levels of a Portfolio's underlying fund(s), (and resulting fluctuations of the Portfolio's portfolio unit value), the account owner should consider his or her financial ability not to withdraw the lump sum(s) contributed through periods of low price levels. The dollar cost averaging method does not assure a profit and does not protect your Columbia 529 Plan account against loss in a declining market.

The Columbia 529 Plan is offered by Program Description, and Liberty and Columbia funds by prospectus, through Liberty Funds Distributor, Inc. Oppenheimer funds are distributed by OppenheimerFunds Distributor, Inc., and Marsico funds are distributed by UMB Fund Services, Inc.

NOT FDIC INSURED -- May lose value -- No bank guarantee