MERRILL LYNCH'S KEITH BAILEY IS THE NEW CHAIRMAN OF ISDA

AMSTERDAM, Thursday, March 16, 2000 - Keith A. Bailey, managing director at Merrill Lynch Capital Services in New York, was elected chairman of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) at the association's annual meeting today.

The 23-member board held its annual officer elections a day after ISDA members voted in 12 new directors.

They named two vice chairmen. One is Thomas K. Montag, managing director at Goldman Sachs & Co. in Tokyo, who was re-elected. The second vice chairman is London-based Mark D. Harding, general counsel of Warburg Dillon Read, and the association's outgoing chairman.

Douglas Bongartz-Renaud, adjunct directeur at ABN Amro Bank in Amsterdam, was re-elected secretary and Dennis Oakley, managing director at Chase Manhattan Bank in New York, was elected treasurer.

Mr. Bailey, a member of ISDA's board since 1997, had been treasurer. At Merrill Lynch he heads the debt markets product control group with worldwide responsibility for derivative positions and cash inventory valuation. Previously, after heading Merrill Lynch's swaps and options group in New York, he spent nearly two years in Australia directing the firm's debt markets activities there.

Mr. Bailey joined Merrill Lynch in 1987 from Manufacturers Hanover where he was an interest rate derivatives trader in both London and New York. He qualified as a solicitor in England after earning an MA in law from Cambridge University.

Mr. Harding, whom Mr. Bailey succeeds, had served as chairman since 1998. As one of the association's two vice chairmen, Mr. Harding will continue to chair ISDA's European Regulatory Committee.

ISDA is the industry association for the world's leading participants in swaps and other privately negotiated derivatives transactions. Its more than 460 member organizations include banks and other financial institutions, government entities, corporations and professional service providers.