NEW YORK, February 23, 2011 — BNY Mellon Corporate Trust has been appointed trustee, paying agent and registrar for the Railsplitter Tobacco Settlement Authority of Illinois' $1.5 billion issuance of tobacco settlement bonds.  Tobacco bonds are backed by payments that tobacco companies make to states, based on projected cigarette sales, as a result of a 1998 settlement over tobacco-related health-care costs.

In its role, BNY Mellon Corporate Trust will provide a variety of services for the debt issue, including processing principal and interest payments and maintaining bondholder records.

"As the country's leading corporate trust provider, we are well-positioned to support the State of Illinois in this unique financing," said Alex Tsarnas, managing director and head of the Corporate and Public Finance Group within BNY Mellon Corporate Trust.  "Being appointed to a transaction that is so important to the state underscores the partnership we have with our clients in the public finance marketplace."

BNY Mellon Corporate Trust services $12 trillion in outstanding debt from 61 locations in 20 countries.  Its clients include governments and their agencies, multinational corporations, financial institutions and other entities that access the global debt capital markets.  The corporate trust business utilizes its global footprint and expertise to deliver a full range of issuer and related investor services and to develop customized and market-driven solutions. Its range of core services includes debt trustee, paying agency, escrow and other fiduciary offerings.

Corporate trust providers are appointed by corporations, municipal governments and other entities issuing debt to perform a variety of duties, including servicing and maintaining the debt issue, processing principal and interest payments for investors, representing investors in defaults, and providing value-added services for complex debt structures.

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.