NEW € 30 MILLION VENTURE CAPITAL FUND FROM BANK OF ATTICA AND THE NEW ECONOMY DEVELOPMENT FUND (TANEO)

4 March 2003

The procedures for establishing the ZAITECH FUND, a Venture Capital Fund, have been completed with the signing of the incorporation and management agreement.

Investors in the ZAITECH FUND will be Bank of Attica (€ 15 million) and the New Economy Development Fund (€14,999,900) while the fund will be managed by Attica Ventures. Attica Ventures is a subsidiary of Bank of Attica and was established for the sole purpose of managing such funds.

It should be noted that Bank of Attica is the first Greek bank to participate in a venture capital fund and establish a specialized subsidiary to manage it in line with the provisions of Greek Law 2992/2002.

The Chairman of the Bank of Attica, Mr. K. Stamoulis, stressed that the new fund aims to invest in a satisfactory number of companies from a range of sectors, primarily from among SMEs (in start up or early development) with a distinct competitive advantage and which are preferably involved in cutting-edge sectors such as telecommunications, IT, energy, e-commerce, biotechnology and new materials. The fund is also interested in companies from the entire range of productive activity (existing or to be established) whose competitiveness is founded on technology applications, innovation and scientific research.

FROM THE ATTICA VENTURES PRESS OFFICE