Aktia Real Estate Mortgage Bank Plc Press Release 25.5.2009 at 15:30 Aktia Mortgage Bank's Covered Bonds downgraded to Aa1 by Moody's In June 2007 the covered bonds issued by Aktia Real Estate Mortgage Bank plc were upgraded from Aa2 to Aaa category by Moody's Investors Service. Today, 25 May 2009, Moody's has informed of the downgrade of all the bonds to Aa1. - We understand that this rating action is based on the agency's revised rating methodology which now places far greater emphasis on the rating of the issuing bank and on the support delivered by its owner banks, says Martti Porkka, Managing Director of Aktia Real Estate Mortgage Bank plc. In our view, the experience of previous financial crises demonstrates that conservatively run, smaller banks, have been able to maintain a more robust financial position compared to larger banks with more complex portfolios, even through times of financial stress. Nevertheless, international rating methodologies generally tend to award larger banks more favourable ratings. In Finland the legal framework generally and the Mortgage Credit Bank Act specifically, are among the most conservative legislations in Europe. To qualify as eligible collateral, Loan to Value of any mortgage must not exceed 60% and there are strict ALM requirements written into the law. Aktia Mortgage Bank's collateral pool consists only of eligible mortgages with an average LTV of 57.0%. Aktia Mortgage Bank has never booked writedowns or experienced loan losses. The credit quality of the collateral pool has not deteriorated during the ongoing financial stress. Aktia Mortgage Bank issued the first ever Nordic Covered bond in 2004 and has eight outstanding covered bonds with a nominal value of 1,875 billion euros. AKTIA REAL ESTATE MORTGAGE BANK PLC For further information, please contact: Managing Director Martti Porkka, tel. +358 10 247 7201, martti.porkka@aktia.fi or see www.aktia.com >Subsidiaries > Aktia Real Estate Mortgage Bank plc From: Malin Pettersson, Head of Communications, tel. +358 10 247 6369 Distribution: Mass media