NEW YORK, Nov. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research today announced the hiring of Chris Flanagan as head of U.S. Mortgage and Structured Finance Research. In this role, Flanagan will be responsible for the strategy and development of our research product, analytics and modeling across all U.S. mortgage and structured finance disciplines. Flanagan will report to Michael Maras, head of BofA Merrill Lynch Global Credit Research.

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"Chris adds formidable expertise to our U.S. Mortgage and Structured Finance Research franchise and we are delighted to have him on board," said Maras. "His in-depth knowledge in all aspects of asset securitization, mortgages and modeling will enable us to significantly enhance our existing research capabilities and grow our range of innovative products and solutions."

Flanagan is a highly regarded analyst, having ranked first in four categories (ABS/prepayments, ABS/real estate, ABS/consumer and collateralized debt obligations) in the 2009, 2008 and 2007 Institutional Investor All- America Fixed Income Research team surveys. He joins from JPMorgan Chase where he was co-head of securitized products research and head of ABS, CDO and CMBS research since 2000. Previously Flanagan spent over ten years at Merrill Lynch. Flanagan received his bachelor's degree in applied and engineering physics and his master's in engineering from Cornell University. He also received his MBA from the State University of New York, Albany.

The goal of BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research is to be the premier global research franchise, providing clients with exceptional service, value-added investment insights and alpha-generating investment recommendations. Since January 2009, BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research has hired 47 analysts in the Americas and an additional 48 analysts globally.

The BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research franchise covers nearly 3,000 stocks globally and ranks in the top tier in many external surveys. Most recently the group was named Top Global Broker, Top U.S. Broker and No. 2 Europe Broker by Financial Times/StarMine and Best Brokerage by Forbes/Zacks. In addition, the group ranked No. 1 in the 2009 Institutional Investor All-Europe survey for Pan-European coverage, No. 2 in the Institutional Investor 2009 All-Brazil Research team survey, and No. 3 in the Institutional Investor 2009 All-America Equity, All-Latin America, and All-America Fixed-Income Research team surveys.

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SOURCE BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research

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