FöreningsSparbanken increases the offer to the shareholders of Hansabank to EUR 13.50 per share

Not for release in or into the United States of America, Australia, Japan or Canada. The Offer is not directed towards any person whose participation requires additional prospectus, registration or other measures than those required by Estonian or Swedish law. Specifically, the Offer is not being made directly or indirectly in or into the United States of America, Australia, Japan or Canada. Documents related to the Offer must not be mailed or otherwise distributed or sent in or into or from the United States of America, Australia, Japan or Canada, and persons receiving any documents related to the Offer (including, without limitation, custodians, nominees and trustees) must not distribute or send them in, into or from the United States of America, Australia, Japan or Canada. Any documents related to the Offer may not be distributed to or in any other country where such distribution (i) requires additional registration or other measures than those prescribed by Estonian and Swedish law or (ii) conflicts with prevailing legislation or regulations in such country.

On 1 March 2005 FöreningsSparbanken AB (“FöreningsSparbanken”) made a cash offer to the shareholders of AS Hansapank (“Hansabank”) for acquiring all shares of Hansabank not already owned by FöreningsSparbanken (the “Offer”). FöreningsSparbanken hereby announces that it increases the price of the Offer from EEK 172.11 (EUR 11.00) to EEK 211.23 (EUR 13.50) per share and waives the condition that shareholders should give acceptances to the Offer to such an extent that FöreningsSparbanken will hold at least ninety five per cent (95%) of all shares in Hansabank. The increased price of the Offer represents a premium of 28 per cent compared to the closing price on 10 February 2005, the day before FöreningsSparbanken’s announcement of its intention to make the Offer. “The acquisition of the outstanding shares of Hansabank is an important step in our strategy in building a leading Nordic-Baltic bank. The decision of the board of FöreningsSparbanken to increase the price of the offer is based on the belief that the certainty and clarity of our strategy regarding Hansabank outweighs the disadvantage of paying the higher price”, says Carl Eric Stålberg, Executive Chairman of FöreningsSparbanken. The described increase of the price of the Offer shall apply retroactively also to those Hansabank shareholders who have already given their acceptance to the Offer. FöreningsSparbanken intends to buy shares in Hansabank also over the market. The price paid per share in such transactions will not exceed the increased price of the Offer. For detailed terms and conditions of the Offer, please see the prospectus regarding the Offer, which is made available on the website of the Tallinn Stock Exchange (www.ee.omxgroup.com) and at Hansabank, which is the local execution agent for the Offer, address Liivalaia 8, Tallinn 15040, Estonia. For further information, please contact: Carl Eric Stålberg, Executive Chairman, FöreningsSparbanken, phone +46 8 58 59 12 96 Jan Lidén, President and CEO, FöreningsSparbanken, phone +46 8 58 59 22 27 Henrik Kolga, Head of Corporate Communications, FöreningsSparbanken, phone +46 708 11 13 15 1. The price as stated in EUR has been converted from EEK using the fixed exchange rate EEK 15.6466 for 1 EUR.