International Rating Agency Fitch Ratings has changed Bank SNORAS ratings

On 8^th April 2009 International Rating Agency Fitch Ratings has changed Bank SNORAS Long-Term Issuer Default Rating to ‘B+'. The same rating action was taken to SNORAS outstanding Eurobonds, which shall be rated at ‘B+'.

International Rating Agency's analysts state that these rating actions reflect the deterioration in the operating environment in Baltic States and this reflects in financial institutions' standings. Other International Rating Agency's Moody‘s and Standard and Poor‘s have also announced their concerns about the economic environment in Baltic States. This have an influence on the reviews of the ratings of Lithuanian and other Baltic States' financial sector's participants as well as Baltic region sovereigns ratings reviews.

“Last years have shown quite a number of rating actions in the Baltic region, therefore we have expected such a step towards SNORAS Bank. Experience showed that downgrades of rivals' ratings were more drastic, however SNORAS was able to demonstrate its stable financial standing and strong business sides. Even in an economic burden SNORAS was able to earn over 20 mLTL profit as for the I quarter of 2009”, Mr. Gitanas Kancerevyčius, Board Member and the Director of Risk Management said.

According to Mr. Kancerevyčius over the last years market have seen numerous rating review actions. This tendency is common all over the world, when every day we receive information on rating downgrades of financial institutions, corporates and sovereigns. Therefore this information was not unexpected for SNORAS.