Pohjola Pankki Oyj - Company Announcement

Pohjola receives temporary permission to treat insurance holdings as risk-weighted assets

Pohjola Bank plc
Stock exchange release
28 November 2013 at 5:15 pm

Pohjola receives temporary permission to treat insurance holdings as risk-
weighted assets

The Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority has given permission, valid until
31 December 2014, to Pohjola and OP-Pohjola Group not to deduct insurance
holdings under supervision of financial and insurance conglomerates from their
capital base and to treat these holdings as risk-weighted assets in accordance
with the principles of capital adequacy measurement. In determining the risk
weight of insurance holdings, Pohjola and OP-Pohjola Group will apply a method
which, in accordance with the Supervisory Authority's permission, will lead to a
risk weight of approximately 280 per cent. The change in the treatment stems
from the new Capital Requirements Directive (CRD4) and Capital Requirements
Regulation (CRR) published on 27 June 2013.

Pohjola confirms its earlier estimate that it expects its Core Equity Tier 1
ratio to be at least at the level of the current Core Tier 1 ratio or to improve
slightly after the change. Other changes caused by CRD4/CRR are expected to have
a minor one-off negative effect on capital adequacy.  The table below shows the
estimated net effect of the change in the treatment of insurance holdings and
other changes caused by CRDIV/CRR, pro forma as of 30 September 2013.

Pohjola capital adequacy

                                  30 Sept. 2013 % CRD IV/CRR pro forma, %
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Core Tier 1 ratio                            10.7                       -

Common Equity Tier 1 ratio (CET1)               -                    11.5

Tier 1 ratio                                 12.1                    12.8

Capital adequacy ratio                       12.1                    16.2


Pohjola's capital adequacy under the Act on the Supervision of Financial and
Insurance Conglomerates is expected to decrease from 1.71 to 1.65, pro forma as
of 30 September 2013, in comparison with the minimum statutory requirement of
1.0.

At the end of September, OP-Pohjola Group's Core Tier 1 ratio, Tier 1 ratio and
capital adequacy ratio all stood at 13.9% and capital adequacy under the Act on
the Supervision of Financial and Insurance Conglomerates at 1.86. OP-Pohjola
Group confirms its earlier estimate that it expects the change in the treatment
of insurance holdings to strengthen its Core Tier 1 ratio by approximately 1
percentage point and the capital adequacy ratio by approximately 2 percentage
points. The change will have no substantial effect on OP-Pohjola Group's capital
adequacy under the Act on the Supervision of Financial and Insurance
Conglomerates.

The permission will be valid from 1 January 2014 until 31 December 2014 at the
latest. As a result of the European Central Bank taking over supervisory
responsibilities for OP-Pohjola Group as credit institution, the ECB will decide
on whether any further special permission is given to OP-Pohjola Group.

Pohjola Bank plc

Carina Geber-Teir
Chief Communications Officer

DISTRIBUTION
NASDAQ OMX Helsinki
LSE London Stock Exchange
SIX Swiss Exchange
Major media
pohjola.com, op.fi

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT
Vesa Aho, CFO, tel. +358 (0)10 252 2336
Niina Pullinen, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations, tel. +358 (0)10
252 4494

Pohjola is a Finnish financial services group which provides its customers with
banking, non-life insurance and asset management services. Our mission is to
promote the sustainable prosperity, security and wellbeing of our customers.
Profitable growth and an increase in company value form our key objectives.
Pohjola Group serves corporate customers in Finland and abroad by providing an
extensive range of financial, investment, cash- management and non-life
insurance services. We offer non-life insurance and private banking services to
private customers. Pohjola Series A shares have been listed on the Large Cap
List of the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki since 1989. The number of shareholders totals
around 32,000. Pohjola's consolidated earnings before tax came to 374 million
euros in 2012 and the balance sheet total amounted to 45 billion euros on 31
December 2012. Pohjola is part of OP-Pohjola Group, the leading financial
services group in Finland with over four million customers.

www.pohjola.com


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