HANSABANK                  PRESS RELEASE                 12.04.05



New Chairman of the Council



The members of the new Council of Hansabank that were elected at the Annual

General Meeting held today, appointed Mr Jan Lidén as the chairman of the Council

and Mr Anders Ek as the vice-chairman of the Council.



Jan Lidén is the President and CEO of Swedbank. His recent employment history is

the following:



2004 -      President and Chief Executive Officer, Swedbank

2003 - 2004 Executive vice president and deputy head of the retail business area,

            regional manager for Stockholm

1999 - 2003 Head of Swedbank Markets



Jan Lidén does not own Hansabank's shares.







Mart Tõevere

Head of corporate communications and IR

Tel. +372 613 1569