Bank of America Marks Three New Banking Center Openings With Celebrity Monopoly(R) Event for Charity

Bank of America Marks Three New Banking Center Openings With Celebrity Monopoly(R) Event for Charity

Famous Chicagoans Bill Rancic and Connie Payton Play Friendly Game to Benefit the Walter and Connie Payton Foundation

CHICAGO, July 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Bank of America furthered its commitment to Chicago with the opening of three new Banking Center locations in Chicago today. The new locations include 2163 N. Clybourn in Lincoln Park, 49 E. Chicago at Wabash and 705 Sutton Road, Streamwood located at Route 53 and Irving Park Road.

Two famous Chicagoans, Bill Rancic and Connie Payton, helped mark the grand openings by playing the Bank of America edition of the MONOPOLY(R) game at the Lincoln Park location. Bank of America also made a $5,000 donation to the Walter and Connie Payton Foundation, which is dedicated to helping neglected, abused and underprivileged children in Chicago and Illinois.

Rancic, star of "The Apprentice," took a break from overseeing the construction of Chicago's newest skyscraper, Trump Tower, to play. "Obviously I've learned a lot about real estate development from Mr. Trump," said Rancic. "And today, it was nice to follow his example once again and participate in this charity game for Bank of America and give money to such a worthwhile organization."

"Bank of America has been a very gracious supporter of our Foundation," said Connie Payton. "It's clear they're dedicated to helping the neighborhoods and communities where they operate and the Walter and Connie Payton Foundation is very thankful to be the recipient of their donation."

Bank of America re-launched retail banking in the Chicago market in 2002 with the opening of the Financial District branch. By the end of 2005, Bank of America plans to have open 45 banking center locations and 134 ATMs throughout Chicagoland.

"Bank of America is committed to bringing its level of customer service to Chicago by opening more banking centers in convenient locations and offering our customers more services than any other bank," said Angela Birmingham, Consumer Market Executive for Bank of America in Chicago. "We also know that our success is based on the success of the communities we serve, which is why we give back to organizations like The Walter and Connie Payton Foundation."

At Bank of America, Chicagoans will see more ATMs and banking centers as well as free checking with direct deposit. Its successful "Leading from the Lobby" program provides customers with senior-level personnel who greet customers at the door, and offer immediate assistance to resolve their banking needs. These are just some of the ways Bank of America goes above and beyond the call of service for its customers.

The Bank of America edition of the MONOPOLY(R) game is available by logging on to http://www.bankofamericastore.com/ and go to Advanced Search and enter Toys.

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 33 million consumer relationships with more than 5,800 retail banking offices, more than 16,700 ATMs and award-winning online banking with more than 13 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 98 percent of the U.S. Fortune 500 companies and 85 percent of the Global Fortune 500. Bank of America Corporation stock (NYSE:BAC) is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. http://www.bankofamerica.com/

USAOPOLY, Inc. is a leading specialty market game developer and manufacturer. For over 10 years, USAOPOLY has created America's favorite games with a twist, combining fun familiar game play with today's most popular licenses.

This year's product line up includes authorized themed editions of the world's best selling board game MONOPOLY(R) (under official license from Hasbro Properties Group) such as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, John Deere, NASCAR Nextel Cup and Disney/Pixar, new twists on classic basic games like Chess, Checkers/Tic Tac Toe, Dominoes, Bingo, Bunco, Poker, Cribbage, as well as Trivia games such as ESPN All Sports Trivia Challenge.

The Walter and Connie Payton Foundation

The Walter and Connie Payton Foundation is dedicated to the emotional healing of neglected, abused and underprivileged children by providing tools and opportunities to build self-esteem and encourage a better family unit giving hope for a brighter future. For more information about the Foundation, visit http://www.payton34.com/.

Bank of America, N.A. Member FDIC.

Source: Bank of America

CONTACT: Diane Wagner of Bank of America, +1-312-828-2932, or diane.wagner@bankofamerica.com

Web site: http://www.bankofamerica.com/ http://www.bankofamericastore.com/ http://www.payton34.com/

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