Bank of America Adds 230 Jobs in Greater Boston

Boston -

DORCHESTER -- Today, Bank of America officials announced the addition of approximately 230 new positions in the Greater Boston area. The announcement underscores Bank of America's commitment to bring good-paying, high-quality jobs to New England and is the latest in a series of announcements the bank has made over the past several months.

Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino joined Global Corporate Affairs Executive Anne M. Finucane and other Bank of America executives in cutting the ribbon to a renovated, state-of-the-art, 51,000-square-foot facility at Two Morrissey Boulevard in Dorchester that will house the new associates. The facility, comprised of a call center and office space, represents a $20 million investment in the local economy by Bank of America.

"In the past few months, we have brought hundreds of new jobs to New England," said Anne M. Finucane, Global Corporate Affairs executive and Northeast market president, Bank of America. "These new positions will help boost the local economy and further Bank of America's efforts to provide world-class service to our customers in Massachusetts and across the country."

Finucane thanked Mayor Menino and other local, state, and federal officials for their assistance in bringing the positions to Massachusetts.

"These new jobs offer good wages and good benefits - and that will really improve the quality of life for the employees. They will also contribute to the economic vitality of the entire city," Mayor Menino said. "I want to thank Bank of America for their ongoing commitment to our City. I look forward to a spirited partnership that will continue to improve the quality of life for all Bostonians."

The National Helpline division is adding 200 new associates, who will assist fellow employees at banking centers across the country by offering direction on a variety of policy, procedural, legal, and technical issues. As they frequently advise on more complex banking center transactions, many National Helpline associates have prior experience in banking centers.

The Dorchester National Helpline call center will work with two other sites to provide support for associates in over 5,800 Bank of America banking centers nationwide. National Helpline associates field 3.6 million calls from banking centers annually.

To safeguard customer privacy and ensure information security, the Dorchester call center will be a paperless environment. Eliminating the use of paper records reduces the risk to customer information and also provides environmental benefits.

Bank of America's National Compliance Operations unit is adding approximately 30 positions in the new facility. NCO is responsible for anti- money laundering and tax compliance monitoring, routinely reviewing large currency transactions and tax compliance for new accounts.

Today's announcement is one of several Bank of America has made in recent months. Last year, Bank of America announced it would relocate over 400 executives in the Global Wealth and Investment Management division - one of the company's three primary business lines - to Boston, where the business is now headquartered. In September, Bank of America announced it would hire up to 900 people to work at a new call center in East Providence, R.I. And in October, the company announced the relocation of approximately 250 jobs to Massachusetts and Connecticut in the Business Credit Services division.

Approximately 100 of the new associates began work in the Dorchester facility this week. Bank of America will hire the remaining associates in 2006. Anyone wishing to obtain further information on careers with Bank of America can visit www.bankofamerica.com/careers.

Bank of America

Bank of America is one of the world's largest financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small and middle market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk-management products and services. The company provides unmatched convenience in the United States, serving more than 38 million consumer and small business relationships with more than 5,800 retail banking offices, more than 16,700 ATMs and award-winning online banking with more than 14 million active users. Bank of America is the No. 1 overall Small Business Administration (SBA) lender in the United States and the No. 1 SBA lender to minority-owned small businesses. The company serves clients in 150 countries and has relationships with 97 percent of the U.S. Fortune 500 companies and 79 percent of the Global Fortune 500. Bank of America Corporation stock (NYSE:BAC) is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

What are people saying about mortgages today:

Rates on 30-year mortgages edged down last week to a seven-month low. Mortgage-giant Freddie Mac reported Thursday that 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages fell to 6.3 percent, down slightly from 6.31 percent two weeks ago. It put rates at the lowest level since they were at 6.24 percent the first week of March.

Bank of Hawaii, Central Pacific Bank, Territorial Savings Bank and Wells Fargo Home Mortgages all cut their 30-year mortgage rates to 5.75 percent this week.

Most people think of a mortgage as a means to an end. After all, you buy a house, not a home loan. But a mortgage is much more than the path to homeownership. It is a financial instrument that must be managed, just like any other financial investment.