Hansapank                     NEWS RELEASE                      06/18/2003



NEW BOARD MEMBER



In a meeting held today the Council of Hansabank elected Ugis Zemturis

- Vice Chairman of the Board and Head of Retail Banking of the Latvian

Hansabanka, as a member of the Board of Hansabank Group.



Ugis Zemturis has headed the Retail Banking Division of Hansabanka for

the past five years. Under his supervision the bank introduced new

customer service and quality standards. For the past two years

Hansabanka has been elected as the best bank in Latvia in customer

service.



Ugis Zemturis has played an important role in the success of

Hansabanka according to Indrek Neivelt, CEO of Hansabank Group:

"During the past five years Hansabanka has developed from a mid-size

corporate bank into the largest retail bank in Latvia. Hansabanka has

also the highest customer satisfaction and best service quality in the

country."



Mr. Zemturis heads the Group’s Pan-Baltic retail banking committee

since 2002. The goal of the committee is to exchange retail banking

knowledge and experience between the different banks in Hansabank

Group.



The employment history of Ugis Zemturis for the past 6 years is the

following:



03.02 -        Vice Chairman of the Board of Hansabanka

01.98 -        Head of Retail Banking Division

03.97 - 01.98  Head of Operational Management Department



Ugis Zemturis owns 1,250 Hansabank shares.





Additional information:

Indrek Neivelt

Chairman of the Board

+372 6131 372





Mart Tõevere

Head of investor relations

+372 6131 569