Nordea  will  acquire  Kredyt Bank's Lithuania operations and will thus

expand  its  network  and business volume in the country's main cities.

This  acquisition  is a continuation of Nordea's strategy to build up a

branch network covering all the main cities in the Baltic Sea region.

Nordea   and  Kredyt  Bank  S.A.  have  signed  a  framework  agreement

concerning the takeover of Kredyt Bank S.A. Vilnius branch. Due to this

agreement,  Nordea  expands  from  one  head  office with one branch in

Vilnius  to  seven  branches in the main cities of Kaunas, Klaipėda and

Panevežys  in  Lithuania.  The acquisition will be completed during the

summer.

- Our expansion in Lithuania will bring us closer to our customers, and

we will therefore be able to provide better services to them than today

-  a  service level we also want to provide to Kredyt Bank's customers,

says Steen Trondhjem Nielsen, General Manager of Nordea in Lithuania.

Kredyt Bank S.A. Vilnius branch is owned by Kredyt Bank S.A. in Poland.

It  was  the  first  foreign  bank  to  be established in Lithuania and

started  its  activities  in  1997.  It  has  six branches in Lithuania

serving 2,700 customers with total assets of EUR 118 million (as of May

1, 2004).

Nordea  established  operations  in Lithuania 2000. Nordea in Lithuania

has  5,500 customers with total assets of EUR 251 million (as of May 1,

2004).  The  main  focus  is  to  attract Nordic companies who need the

support of a financial partner with specialist competence in the Nordic

and  Baltic  Sea  region  markets.  Nordea  also focuses on large local

corporate  customers  and  is  one  of  the  leading corporate banks in

Lithuania  with  a 25 per cent share of the market for Nordic and large

local corporates.

By  the  acquisition Nordea continues its strategy to build up a strong

market  position  in  the Baltic Sea region, ie Poland, Estonia, Latvia

and Lithuania. Nordea has altogether 79 branches and 1,497 employees in

Poland and the Baltic countries.

-  The  new  branches  will  give  us full geographical coverage of the

biggest  and  most  important  industrial cities in Lithuania, and will

thereby  support  our  profitable growth strategy, says Thomas Neckmar,

Head of Nordea in Poland and the Baltic countries.



For further information:

Steen  T  Nielsen,  General Manager, Nordea Bank Lithuania, +370 5 2631

361

Thomas  Neckmar, Head of Nordea in Poland and the Baltic countries, +46

708 67 34 12

Ann-Leena Mikiver, Group Identity and Communications, +46 8 614 90 07