Moody's upgrades the rating of Stadshypotek

Moody´s upgrades the rating of Stadshypotek Moody's Investors Service has announced that it has upgraded Stadshypotek AB's senior debt rating to Aa3 from A1. Moody's states that the reasons for this are the successful integration of Stadshypotek into the Svenska Handelsbanken Group and its good financial fundamentals. Further Moody´s states " Although market share has declined since the acquisition of Stadshypotek, the Handelsbanken group has managed to maintain its position as Sweden´s largest mortgage lender." The Stadshypotek AB Group, including its subsidiary, Handelsbanken Hypotek, is a subsidiary group of Handelsbanken and at the end of 1998, its lending to the general public was SEK 326.5bn. For further information please contact Michael Zell president of Stadshypotek AB tel: +46 8 701 5410 Gustaf Elmstedt, Head of Investor relations tel: +46 8 701 5142 ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/03/10/19990310BIT00130/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/03/10/19990310BIT00130/bit0002.pdf