Former Sen. John Sununu, R-N.H., one of five members of a congressionally appointed panel meant to oversee the government's financial sector bailout, has joined the board of a company affiliated with Bank of New York Mellon Corp, according to the Associated Press.

That bank is one of nine designated by the Treasury Department to get cash infusions from the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, and is also Treasury's custodian of the bailout funds. Sununu was named last week to the board of ConvergEx Holdings, the holding company for BNY ConvergEx Group, in which The Bank of New York Mellon Corp. has a 33.8 percent stake. Sununu told the AP in an e-mail that the bank held a minority position in ConvergeEx, which he called an "independent company" and ineligible for help from the bailout fund.

                                                                                                              -- Julie Kosterlitz