Belchere Joins JPMorgan As Head of Asian Economic & Policy Research.

Business Editors

HONG KONG--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 22, 2002

JPMorgan announced today that William Belchere joined JPMorgan as Managing Director and Head of Asian Economic and Policy Research.

In this role, Mr. Belchere will report to John Lipsky, JPMorgan's Chief Economist. Mr. Belchere will also assume the newly created title of Asia Research Coordinator, insuring that the insight available from JPMorgan's extensive Asian Research team is effectively integrated.

Previously, Mr. Belchere was Managing Director and Chief Asian Economist at Merrill Lynch, responsible for Asian currency and fixed-income strategy and research for the region. While at Merrill, Mr. Belchere won top honors from Finance Asia, the International Financing Review and Institutional Investor for research during the Asian currency crisis. Prior to Merrill Lynch, Mr. Belchere was Policy Advisor in the monetary unit of the central bank of Indonesia. He holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in Economics from the University of Maryland.

"Bill is a tremendous addition to our global team," said John Lipsky. "We are confident that his exceptional knowledge of the Asian markets and award-winning approach to research will provide our clients with the best analysis in the region."

Mr. Belchere's arrival comes shortly after JPMorgan's European economics team ranked number one in Institutional Investor's annual 2002 All-Europe Fixed-Income Research survey, reflecting the leadership position of JPMorgan's global economic and policy research.

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. is a leading global financial services firm with assets of $741 billion and operations in more than 50 countries. With relationships with over 99% of the Fortune 1000 companies, the firm is a leader in investment banking, asset management, private banking, private equity, custody and transaction services, and retail and middle market financial services. A component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, JPMorgan Chase is headquartered in New York and serves more than 30 million consumer customers and the world's most prominent corporate, institutional and government clients. Information about JPMorgan Chase is available on the internet at www.jpmorganchase.com