New Mandate Enhances Existing Service Offering

NEW YORK, February 14, 2011 — BNY Mellon Asset Servicing, the global leader in securities servicing, announced today that Virtus Investment Partners has selected the company to provide mutual fund transfer agency services.

BNY Mellon Asset Servicing will provide shareholder services, financial and regulatory reporting, and money market stress testing for the Virtus Mutual Funds, which had $14.9 billion in assets and 290,000 shareholder accounts as of December 31, 2010.

BNY Mellon Asset Servicing currently provides fund accounting and administration, Blue Sky, and custody services, as well as shareholder services for closed-end funds, to Virtus Investment Partners.

"We chose BNY Mellon Asset Servicing for transfer agency services due to their operational efficiencies and technology platform," said W. Patrick Bradley, senior vice president, Mutual Fund Administration at Virtus Investment Partners. "Through our existing relationship, the BNY Mellon Asset Servicing staff have demonstrated responsiveness to our needs and the needs of our fund shareholders. The cornerstone of our business is an unwavering commitment to investor success, and we believe that BNY Mellon Asset Servicing can help us continue to make this a reality for our mutual fund shareholders."

"This mandate is indicative of our ability to deliver a comprehensive array of services that creates great value for clients," said Michael DeNofrio, head of US investor services within BNY Mellon Asset Servicing's Global Financial Institutions group. "Virtus has a clear understanding of the evolving investor services environment and believes that our expertise within both the transfer agent and sub-accounting arenas provides them with a distinct competitive advantage. By extending their relationship with BNY Mellon Asset Servicing, Virtus can wholly focus on the continued growth of their wide spectrum of offerings."

Virtus Investment Partners (Nasdaq: VRTS) is a distinctive partnership of boutique investment managers singularly committed to the long-term success of individual and institutional investors. The company provides investment management products and services through its affiliated managers and select subadvisers, each with a distinct investment style, autonomous investment process and individual brand. Virtus Investment Partners offers access to a variety of investment styles across multiple disciplines to meet a wide array of investor needs. Additional information can be found at www.virtus.com.

BNY Mellon Asset Servicing offers clients worldwide a broad spectrum of specialized asset servicing capabilities, including custody and fund services, securities lending, performance and analytics, and execution services. BNY Mellon Asset Servicing provides fund transfer agency services to over 13,000 funds with US$ 2.0 trillion in assets.

BNY Mellon is a global financial services company focused on helping clients manage and service their financial assets, operating in 36 countries and serving more than 100 markets. BNY Mellon is a leading provider of financial services for institutions, corporations and high-net-worth individuals, providing superior asset management and wealth management, asset servicing, issuer services, clearing services and treasury services through a worldwide client-focused team. It has $25.0 trillion in assets under custody and administration and $1.17 trillion in assets under management, services $12.0 trillion in outstanding debt and processes global payments averaging $1.6 trillion per day. BNY Mellon is the corporate brand of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (NYSE: BK). Additional information is available at www.bnymellon.com.