Merrill Lynch HSBC Canada Inc, the global online investment service, today announced access to GlobeinvestorGOLD.com for investors who open new accounts by March 30, 2002. The free one-year subscription complements research and market intelligence offered by Merrill Lynch HSBC.

Investors who go to www.mlhsbc.ca/gold may download an application form to qualify for the GlobeinvestorGOLD offer.

“Hope is not a strategy,” says MLHSBC president Peter Hickman. “During the best and the worst of times, investors need the best available investment intelligence to make the right investment decisions. It is more important than ever to invest with intelligence. GlobeinvestorGOLD.com offers investors another valuable source of comprehensive market information.”

Merrill Lynch HSBC offers real-time, in-depth, global market research. GlobeinvestorGOLD delivers subscribers over 25 different types of market alerts as well as streaming quotes, news releases and live and archived video footage from ROBTv.

MLHSBC is a global online investment service that launched in Canada in December 2000. It is an indirectly held, wholly owned subsidiary of Merrill Lynch HSBC Ltd., headquartered in London, U.K.