Pohjola Pankki Oyj - Company Announcement

New Operating Model for Selling Pohjola Non-life Insurance to Private Customers

Pohjola Bank plc			Stock Exchange Release                                       
				4 September 2008, at 10.am                                                  

New Operating Model for Selling Pohjola Non-life Insurance to Private Customers 

Pohjola Insurance Ltd and a number of OP-Pohjola Group member cooperative banks 
have decided to adopt on 1 October 2008 a new operating model for selling       
banking and non-life insurance products to private customers. Its planning began
last spring (Company release on 19 March 2008). As part of this reorganisation, 
Pohjola Insurance Ltd's field staff for private customers (around 250) will join
the payroll of local cooperative banks from the beginning of October.           

This new operating model will provide the opportunity to improve customer       
service, especially in the field of cross-selling banking and non-life insurance
services. The majority of the employees to whom this reorganisation applies     
currently work on the premises of the cooperative bank branches, bearing in mind
that these branches and Pohjola Insurance already operate under the same roof   
everywhere in Finland. The reorganisation applies to 52 Group member banks but  
will not involve any changes in agency operations, corporate and institutional  
customer sales or the operations of other Pohjola Insurance's service channels. 

From the perspective of Pohjola and Group member banks, the reorganisation will 
make it possible to serve customers better while improving the availability of  
non-life insurance services. Non-life insurance operations and products will    
remain Pohjola Insurance Ltd's responsibility and the reorganisation will not   
involve any staff reductions and will have no material effect on Pohjola Bank   
Group's earnings for 2008.                                                      

OP-Pohjola Group's service network consists of branch offices, online service   
and Contact Centre services. OP-Pohjola Group has around 630 branch offices, 287
of which provide both banking and non-life insurance services. It aims to       
increase the number of branches providing banking and non-life insurance        
services.                                                                       

Pohjola Bank plc                                                                



Markku Koponen                                                                  
Senior Vice President                                                           

DISTRIBUTION                                                                    
OMX Nordic Exchange Helsinki                                                    
London Stock Exchange                                                           
SWX Swiss Exchange                                                              
Major media                                                                     

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:                                        
Tomi Yli-Kyyny, President, Pohjola Insurance Ltd, tel. +358 (0)10 253 2691