Piraeus Bank announces that on 4th September 2008, the affiliate company "Piraeus Bank (Cyprus) Ltd" signed an agreement for acquiring 18% of the share capital of the insurance company "Atlantic Insurance Company Public Ltd". The total price of the transaction amounts to ?14.079.212 and shall be concluded upon receipt of approvals by the competent authorities. Piraeus Bank Group intends to acquire a total percentage of 25% plus 1 share of "Atlantic Insurance Company Public Ltd".

"Atlantic Insurance Company Public Ltd" was founded in 1983, mainly aiming at General Sector Insurance contracts and has been listed in the Cyprus Stock Exchange since 2000. "Atlantic Insurance Company Public Ltd" is the 5th largest insurance company in the General Insurance Sector in Cyprus in terms of turnover and is ranked 3rd in terms of net profits. The company has made significant progress over the last years having raised its profits six times more the last four years reaching ?7 millions on a total of ?21 millions of gross premiums. The performance of equity capitals based on data of 2007 has increased at 25%.

The commercial partnership with Atlantic reinforces directly cross-selling and maintains the Bank's clientele, to which the Bank shall offer a more integrated range of services. In addition, at this stage of fast development of the Bank in Cyprus, direct access to the Bank is offered to the high quality customers of Atlantic that exceeds 30.000 permanent customers.

This strategic alliance in the insurance field, Piraeus Bank (Cyprus) consolidates the presence of the Group in the Cypriot market, while at the same time it benefits from the participation in the net profitability of the company and of any associations resulting from this commercial partnership.