Milano, 13 September 2004

Benchmark issue of 750 million euro

Today Banca Intesa launched on the international markets a 750 million euro bond issue under the Medium Term Notes programme, with a structure proposed for the first time by an Italian bank onto public international markets: a ten-year, Senior, floating rate Euro Medium Term Notes issue with a quarterly coupon of three-month Euribor plus 20 basis points.

 

The issue price is 99.729%.

 

Considering that it is issued below par, the bond has been distributed in Europe with a total spread for the investor of three-month Euribor plus 23 basis points.

 

Payment is due on 1st October.

 

The bond is not offered to the domestic retail market but to institutional investors and international financial institutions. It will be listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange and, as usual, traded Over-the-counter.

 

Banca Caboto, Calyon and Deutsche Bank AG – London act as lead managers for the distribution of the bond. Dexia BIL Luxembourg participates as Senior Co-Lead Manager and Natexis as Co-Lead Manager.

 

The bond issue achieves the objective of offering investment opportunities over the whole range of maturities, from two to ten years, to international institutional investors.

 

With the ten-year issue, today Banca Intesa can propose to its international institutional investors four large benchmark issues: 1,800 million euro with maturity 2006, one billion euro with maturity April 2008, one billion euro with maturity May 2011, and now 750 million euro of the new ten-year bonds with maturity 2014.

 

This benchmarking policy, benefits from the extremely high liquidity of Banca Intesa’s international issues and therefore creates significant “points of reference” for other important European issuers and for a wide group of professional foreign investors (funds, insurance companies, portfolio managers, and even certain Central Banks).