HANSAPANK

ANNOUNCEMENT



CHANGE IN THE HANSA CAPITAL LEGAL STRUCTURE



The Hansabank Council today passed a resolution initiating the legal

restructuring of leasing and factoring operations in the Hansabank

Group. In order to improve the financial management and funding

structure of the Group, Hansa Capital’s fully owned subsidiaries in

Latvia and Lithuania will be sold to Hansabank’s two daughter banks in

the respective countries. As a result, SIA Hansa Lizings in Latvia

will be sold to a/s Hansabanka, effective from December 31, 2001 the

latest and UAB Hanza Lizingas in Lithuania will be sold to the merged

Hansa-LTB during the first half of 2002.



So far Hansa Capital’s operations in the Baltics have mostly been

funded through Hansabank’s balance sheet. Due to banking regulatory

restrictions, the current legal structure has started to hamper the

funding and thus the development of leasing and factoring operations

in the Group, necessitating the mentioned restructuring.

The management structure in the Group, including in the leasing and

factoring business unit will remain unchanged.



Additional information

Kristina Siimar

Group CFO

Tel. +372 6131 252





Mart Tõevere

Head of investor relations

+372 6131 569