Merrill Lynch Hires Dick Barrett and Mark Ellman to Strengthen Investment Banking Coverage of Financial Institutions

Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. (NYSE: MER) today announced that Dick Barrett and Mark Ellman will be joining Merrill Lynch as vice chairmen, based in New York and reporting to Andrea Orcel, head of Global Origination, Merrill Lynch.

Previously Dick and Mark were at Barrett Ellman Stoddard Capital Partners, a financial services specialty firm they jointly founded in 2005 and before that they were joint heads of the global financial institutions practice at Credit Suisse. Dick was also at Salomon Brothers for nearly 20 years including the last three as head of global investment banking. He subsequently led the financial institutions groups at UBS, DLJ and Credit Suisse. Mark began his career in accounting and law before becoming an investment banker at Wasserstein Perella and Morgan Stanley. After that, he became head of Insurance Investment Banking at UBS and DLJ before moving to Credit Suisse.

Andrea Orcel, head of Global Origination, Merrill Lynch said: "Dick and Mark are notable additions to our leading global financial institutions franchise. With more than 50 years of collective financial institutions experience between them, specifically in the US bank and insurance sectors, they will be invaluable in broadening and strengthening our capital raising and merger advisory activities in this area.”

Merrill Lynch is one of the world's leading wealth management, capital markets and advisory companies with offices in 40 countries and territories and total client assets of approximately $1.6 trillion. As an investment bank, it is a leading global trader and underwriter of securities and derivatives across a broad range of asset classes and serves as a strategic advisor to corporations, governments, institutions and individuals worldwide. Merrill Lynch owns approximately half of BlackRock, one of the world's largest publicly traded investment management companies with $1.4 trillion in assets under management at June 30, 2008. For more information on Merrill Lynch, please visit www.ml.com.