Board of Directors

W. H. Clark Corporate Director; former Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer and President of Nalco Chemical Company, a producer of specialty chemicals; 71 years old; elected a Director of Merrill Lynch in 1995. Jill K. Conway Visiting Scholar, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; President of Smith College from 1975 to 1985; 69 years old; elected a Director of Merrill Lynch in 1978. Alberto Cribiore Managing Principal of Brera Capital Partners LLC, a private equity investment firm that he founded in 1997; Co-President of Clayton, Dubilier and Rice from 1986 until 1997; Senior Vice President of Warner Communications (Time Warner, Inc.) responsible for mergers, acquisitions and divestitures from 1982 until 1986; 57 years old; elected a Director of Merrill Lynch in 2003. George B. Harvey* Corporate Director; former Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer of Pitney Bowes Inc., a provider of mailing, office and logistics systems and management and financial services; 72 years old; elected a Director of Merrill Lynch in 1993. Heinz-Joachim Neubürger Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Siemens AG; Member of the Executive Committee of the Managing Board of Siemens AG; 51 years old; elected a Director of Merrill Lynch in 2001.

David K. Newbigging Chairman of the Board of Friends Provident plc, a United Kingdom-based life assurance company; former Chairman of the Board of Equitas Holdings Limited; former Chairman of the Board of Rentokil Group plc; former Chairman of the Board and Senior Managing Director of Jardine, Matheson & Co. Limited; 70 years old; elected a Director of Merrill Lynch in 1996. E. Stanley O'Neal Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer and President of Merrill Lynch; 52 years old; elected a Director of Merrill Lynch in 2001; joined Merrill Lynch in 1986. Aulana L. Peters Corporate Director; Retired Partner in the law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP; former Member, Public Oversight Board of AICPA; former Commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission; 62 years old; elected a Director of Merrill Lynch in 1994. John J. Phelan, Jr.* Corporate Director; Member of the Council on Foreign Relations; former Senior Advisor, Boston Consulting Group; former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The New York Stock Exchange, Inc.; former President of the International Federation of Stock Exchanges; 72 years old; elected a Director of Merrill Lynch in 1991. Joseph W. Prueher Corporate Director; U.S. Ambassador to the People's Republic of China from 1999 to 2001; Consulting Professor to the Stanford-Harvard Preventive Defense Project; U.S. Navy Admiral (Ret.), Commander-in-Chief of U.S. Pacific Command from 1996 to 1999; 61 years old; elected a Director of Merrill Lynch in 2001.

* Mr. Harvey and Mr. Phelan will continue to serve on the Board of Directors until the 2004 Annual Meeting of Shareholders on Friday, April 23, 2004.