Moody's upgrades the banks of Nordic Baltic Holding

Moody´s upgrades the banks of Nordic Baltic Holding Merita Bank Plc, Nordbanken AB and Unibank A/S were all upgraded today by Moody´s Investor Service. The upgrading to Aa3 and B respectively concerns long-term deposits, debt ratings and the financial strength rating of the three banks. A total sum of 22 billion euros of debt is affected. Moody´s confirms the Aa3 long-term rating of Nordbanken Hypotek AB and upgrades the rating for the mortgage bonds by Unikredit Realkreditaktie- selskab to Aa2 from Aa3. Moody´s motivation is that Nordic Baltic Holding ranks among the strongest banking groups in the Nordic area and that the upgrading concludes a revi- ew process initiated following the announcement of a friendly merger bet- ween Swedish-Finnish banking group MeritaNordbanken and Unidanmark. For further information: Fanny Borgström, Director, +358 9 369 505 00 Jakob Grinbaum, Vice President, +46 8 614 78 91 Erik Evrén, press relations manager, + 46 8 614 86 11 ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/06/05/20000605BIT01060/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/06/05/20000605BIT01060/bit0002.pdf