HANSAPANK

ANNOUNCEMENT



LATVIAN HANSABANKA'S EXTRAORDINARY SHAREHOLDERS' MEETING



Today, the extraordinary shareholders’ meeting of the Latvian based

Hansabanka resolved:

1. to approve the merger of a/s Hansabanka and a/s Ventspils Apvienotā

Baltijas Banka (Ventspils UBB), merging Ventspils UBB to a/s

Hansabanka, and all the rights and liabilities of Ventspils UBB will

be undertaken by a/s Hansabanka.



2. to give authority to the Board of a/s Hansabanka to perform all

necessary actions to accomplish the merging process of the banks.

The permission to Hansapank (Estonia) to obtain 100% of the Ventspils

UBB shares is given by the Central Bank of Estonia and the Bank of

Latvia. Bileteral agreement on the purchase of the Ventspils UBB was

signed on February 24, 2000.



3. the increase of share capital by 7.5 million LVL through a closed

issue.

The merger of Hansabanka and Venspils UBB will be done through a share

swap. For this purpose Hansabanka will issue 7.5 million shares at par

value (1 LVL per share) to the shareholder of Ventspils UBB, i.e.

Hansapank.





Mart Tõevere

Investor relations

+372 6131 569