EXHIBIT 99.1

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Bob Stickler, 704.386.8465

BANK OF AMERICA CHAIRMAN AND CEO HUGH L. MCCOLL, JR. TO RETIRE IN APRIL;
BOARD NAMES LEWIS SUCCESSOR

January 24,  2001 - Bank of America  today  announced  that  Chairman  and Chief
Executive  Officer Hugh L. McColl,  Jr. has informed the board of directors that
he will retire on April 25, 2001, at the company's annual shareholders  meeting.
The board, in turn,  unanimously has named Kenneth D. Lewis, currently president
and chief operating  officer of Bank of America,  chairman-elect  and CEO-elect.
Lewis will assume those offices immediately upon McColl's  retirement,  and will
retain the title of president.

 "I told the board of directors  back in the Fall of 1998 that I would stay long
enough to see us through the merger  transition," McColl said. "While we clearly
have some  challenges  to face, it is my judgment  that we have  completed  that
transition and the company is set on a strong course for the future.  It is time
to hand the reins to a new generation of leadership.

"My retirement  will mean a change in leadership,  but not a change in strategic
direction for the  company,"  McColl  continued.  "As president and COO, Ken has
provided the leadership  that has begun our  transformation  from a company that
grows through  mergers and  acquisitions  to a company that grows by attracting,
retaining and expanding customer relationships.

"Ken Lewis' leadership is what this company needs to achieve the goals we've set
for customers,  associates and  shareholders,"  McColl said. "I congratulate Ken
and have  great  confidence  that he and his  management  team will lead Bank of
America to great success."

McColl's  41-year career with the company has been marked by dramatic changes in
the financial services industry and Bank of America. Time after time, McColl and
his company led the charge to modernize the U.S.  financial  services  industry,
from  initial  expansions  into  Florida  in the  early  1980's  that led to the
creation of a regional banking compact in the Southeastern U.S.; to the building
of a super-regional,  multi-state franchise in the early 1990's that helped lead
to the reform of national  interstate  banking  laws; to the creation of a truly
national,  diversified financial services company in the late 1990's that helped
make the  case  for the 1999  Financial  Modernization  Act,  which  effectively
repealed Depression-era restrictions on the financial services industry.

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As the leader of one of the largest and fastest-growing  financial  institutions
in the country, McColl has used his position over the years not only to advocate
for changes in the financial services industry, but also to advance a wide range
of issues  important  to the health and vitality of the  company's  communities,
from community  development  lending and corporate  philanthropy  to support for
public education and the arts.

A native of Bennettsville, S.C., McColl, 65, joined the company in 1959 as a
management trainee after receiving his B.A. in business management from the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and serving two years in the U.S.
Marine Corps.

McColl  will turn the  leadership  of the  company  over to  Lewis,  who has had
primary  responsibility for the design and execution of corporate strategy since
1999.  "Under Lewis," McColl said,  "the bank has made  significant  progress in
assembling an integrated company that is easy for customers to do business with,
and in building the technology infrastructure that enables customers and clients
to access the full range of the  company's  banking and  investing  products and
services how, when and where they choose."

Lewis, who joined the company in 1969 as a credit analyst, served as a corporate
banking  officer and Western Area director in the U.S.  Department  before being
named manager of the company's  International Banking Corporation in New York in
1977.  He served in various  other  executive  management  positions,  including
president  of the  company's  Florida  Bank,  president  of the Texas bank,  and
president of Consumer and Commercial  Banking,  before being named president and
COO of the company in 1999.  Originally from Columbus,  Ga., Lewis,  53, holds a
bachelor's  degree  in  finance  from  Georgia  State  University  and also is a
graduate of the Executive Program at Stanford University.

For complete  information on McColl,  Lewis and the change in leadership at Bank
of America, please go to www.bankofamerica.com/newsroom.

Bank of America is a financial services company committed to making banking work
for customers  like it never has before.  Through  innovative  technologies  and
financial ingenuity, Bank of America provides individuals,  small businesses and
commercial,  corporate and  institutional  clients  across the United States and
around  the world new and  better  ways to manage  their  financial  lives.  The
company empowers customers to do their banking and investing whenever,  wherever
and however they choose through the nation's largest financial services network,
including  more than 4,400  domestic  offices,  13,000  ATMs,  38  international
offices, a telephone banking network that handles more than a half billion calls
a year and an  Internet  Web site that is  actively  used by more than 3 million
customers,  more than any other bank.  Bank of America  stock  (ticker:  BAC) is
listed on the New York,  Pacific and London stock  exchanges.  The company's Web
site is  www.bankofamerica.com.  News, speeches and other corporate  information
may be found at www.bankofamerica.com/newsroom.

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