Fitch affirms ratings

Fitch Ratings affirms Swedbank’s rating at Long-term Issuer Default Rating (“IDR”) ‘A+’ with Stable Outlook, Short-term ‘F1’, Individual ‘B’ and Support ‘1’. At the same time, the agency also affirms the ratings of Swedbank’s mortgage subsidiary Spintab at Long-term ‘AA-‘ (AA minus) with Stable Outlook, Short-term ‘F1+’, Individual ‘B’ and Support ‘1’. According to Fitch, Swedbanks Long-term IDR, Short-term and Individual ratings reflect its strong franchise in Sweden and in the Baltics, good asset quality, diversified fundings, satisfactory earnings and still adequate capitalisation, albeit under strong pressure given the growing exposure to the Baltics. “With very low domestic interest rates and fierce competition, margins have been squeezed, but profitability has been maintained through strong cost control and growth in fees, particularly from the asset management and payment business”, says Fitch. For further information: Håkan Wilson, Head of Investor Relations, phone +46 70 636 08 54 FöreningsSparbanken (Swedbank) is a leading Nordic-Baltic banking group with 8.8 million retail customers and 441,000 corporate customers in Sweden, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia. In Sweden the group has more than 470 branches. In the Baltic countries the group has another 280 branches. Outside of the Nordic-Baltic home markets, the group is present in Copenhagen, Helsinki, Kaliningrad, Luxembourg, Moscow, New York, Oslo, Shanghai, St.Petersburg and Tokyo. As of December 2005, the group had total assets of SEK 1,200 billion and approximately 16,000 employees. For more information about FöreningsSparbanken, please visit http://www.swedbank.com.