Parex banka announces today the appointment of Martins Jaunarajs as Acting Head of its Capital Markets and Investment Banking Sector, as from 1 February 2008. Mr Jaunarajs takes over from Gene Zolotarev, who is leaving the Bank. Mr. Jaunarajs, who has been with Parex banka since 2001, has been a Managing Director in its Investment Banking Division since 2003. During his tenure, Mr. Jaunarajs's Investment Banking team has arranged a number of significant bond issues, attracted syndicated loans for the needs of the clients and successfully provided M&A advisory on numerous transactions. Having commenced his banking career at AS Latvijas Universālā Banka (now SEB Unibanka) in 1994, he held various positions at Hansabanka between 1997 and 2001. Mr. Jaunarajs has an MBA degree from the University of Latvia and is a Chartered Financial Analyst. Mr Valery Kargin, President and Chairman of the Management Board of Parex banka said: “We welcome Martins to his new role and look forward to our Capital Markets and Investment Banking Sector showing further growth under his leadership. The Board would like to take this opportunity to thank Gene Zolotarev for all his work over recent years and wish him every success in his future career.” About Parex banka: Parex banka is one of the most steadily growing Latvian commercial banks with assets exceeding EUR 4.5 billion. The Bank offers its clients integrated services in such areas as credit services, payment cards, leasing, asset management and trading with securities. More than 2,600 people are currently employed at the Bank and its branches. Parex banka has representative offices, branches and subsidiaries in 15 countries, including branches in Berlin, Hamburg, Stockholm, Malmo, Tallin and Narva, a subsidiary bank AP Anlage und Privatbank AG in Switzerland and Parex Bankas in Lithuania. Parex banka is the only business partner of American Express in Latvia and Lithuania with exclusive rights to issue American Express credit cards. Parex banka is assigned the following international ratings: Moody's Investors Service - Baa3 (investment grade), Fitch Ratings - BB+, Capital Intelligence - BBB (investment grade). Additional information: Indra Zinkevica Head of International Communications Ph. + 371 6777 8571 E-mail: indra.zinkevica@parex.lv