Milano, 18 February 2004

Intesa Lease Sec. Srl has launched today its Euro 1,495.5 m lease-backed ABS. Originator is Intesa Leasing (the leasing company of the Intesa Group), Sole Arranger is Banca Intesa, Lead Managers and Joint-book runners are Caboto, Cai-Cl and Citigroup whilst Co-lead Manager is Banc One Capital Marktes Inc.

Intesa Leasing, a unit of Gruppo Intesa (Italy's largest banking group), is the second largest company in the sector in Italy with a market share of around 8pc. The pool of Lease Receivables consists of 48pc real estate, 30pc equipment and 22pc motor vehicles receivables, with exposure to Northern Italy of about 78pc and to Central and Southern Italy of 22pc.

The Issuer of the Notes, Intesa Lease Sec. S.r.l, is a special purpose vehicle, incorporated in Italy under Law 130/99.

With this transaction Gruppo Intesa aimed at obtaining funding at interesting spread levels together with the release of regulatory capital.

Heavily over subscribed, Intesa Lease Sec. is priced as follows:

Class A1: E374m, frn, Aaa/AAA (Moody's/S&P), expected average life 2.09yrs, 3mE+ 20 bps

Class A2: E350m, frn, Aaa/AAA (Moody's/S&P), expected average life 4.44yrs, 3mE + 30 bps, privately placed

Class A3: E665.3m, frn, Aaa/AAA (Moody's/S&P), expected average life 4.44yrs, 3mE + 30 bps

Class B: E83.8m, frn, Aaa/AAA (Moody's/S&P), guaranteed by EIF (European Investment Fund), expected average life 6.6yrs, 3mE + 11 bps

Class C: E22.4m, frn, NR, retained

Common terms: Legal Final Maturity Dec-2015; 18 month revolving period; pass-through notes. The notes will be listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange and cleared through Monte Titoli (also as depositary for Euroclear and Clearstream).

INTESA's last securitisation was INTESABCI SEC. 2, a Euro 2.02 bn prime rmbs launched in February 2003 that provided a benchmark in terms of size and pool quality.