OPTIVA PANK

ANNOUNCEMENT



EQUITY RESTRUCTURING



Optiva Bank announces that the Supervisory Board of the Bank has approved a 

plan for restructuring equity. 

As of 30 November 2000, the balance sheet goodwill total of EEK 85.5 million 

has been fully written off. The goodwill occurred as a result of the merger of 

the Estonian Investment Bank and Forexbank and it is no longer meaningful to 

keep it in the balance sheet, for Optiva Bank has been fully consolidated into 

the Sampo-Leonia group.

An Extraordinary Meeting of the Shareholders will be convened this December. 

The aim is to reduce share capital in order to cover the balance sheet loss.

After the write-off of goodwill, the Bank's loss for the current year is 

EEK 77 million, while the losses incurred for previous years total 

EEK 155 million. The intention, under the new owner and a new name,  is to 

discontinue reflecting the negative results of the previous periods in the 

balance sheet. The Bank's share capital will, thus, be reduced to the level of 

equity. The current full write-off of goodwill will improve the next year 

profitability of the Bank by EEK 28 million. A simplified share capital 

reduction will be carried out by withdrawal of shares. 

The General Meeting of the Shareholders will again be convened at the 

beginning of next year in order to increase the share capital. 

The Bank's majority owner, Sampo Insurance plc, has decided to increase the 

Bank's share capital with a view to securing a level of capitalisation 

that would be sufficient for the development of the organisation and the 

growth of its assets. The Bank will be able to increase the share capital 

only after completion of the annual audit. The share capital will, thus, be 

increased in February-March, 2001.





Lea Endrikson

PR specialist

+372 6 302 588