Credito Valtellinese Group awarded important prizes

Sondrio, Fri. October 1, 2004

PattiChiari
On September 28, 2004, all the Credito Valtellinese Group member banks - i.e. Credito Valtellinese, Credito Artigiano, Credito Siciliano and Banca dell'Artigianato e dell'Industria - were successfully audited against the ABI standards for each of the eight initiatives promoted by the Italian Bankers Association (ABI) under the name of "Progetto PattiChiari" (PattiChiari project). Since the project was launched in 2003, the Creval Group has been adhering to all initiatives described hereafter:

- F.A.R.O. (online searching functioning ATMs)
- List of Low-risk, low-return bonds
- Clear information on structured and subordinate bank bonds
- The general criteria for assessing loan applications
- Current accounts compared
- Basic banking services
- Certainty on date at which deposits of cheques become available
- Average response time on SMEs credit applications

Also Bancaperta was successfully audited against the ABI standards referring to those initiatives that have been set up in its field of activity:

- List of Low-risk, low-return bonds
- Current accounts compared

The Group member banks are among those in Italy that were first awarded the PattiChiari certification of the quality for the standards adopted within the project, giving their commitment to further developing and improving the relations existing between banks and the community - customers, professional associations, consumer associations, public opinion expressed through the media and so on.
The certification of the PattiChiari standards awarded to the Credito Valtellinese Group confirms the values inspiring its activity: top quality and social responsibility are strategic and fundamental for the Group to achieve customer satisfaction and to suit the specific requirements of its shareholders, staff and the community in the areas served by its banking network

MF Innovazione Award 2004
The financial newspaper MF Milano Finanza has set up the MF Innovation Award, a prize to be given each year to the most innovative products and banking services launched on the market. Credito Valtellinese has received the 2004 MF Innovation Award for the level of innovation of its credit card Cart@perta Gold, as well as a mention for the current account Conto Armonia Web.
The prizes awarded to the bank once again confirm the strong commitment to innovation and change given by Credito Valtellinese thanks to highly sophisticated IT systems, which enable the Group to deliver the best products and the most user-friendly solutions.
Credito Valtellinese has had great feedback on the line of credit cards called cart@perta (73,000 card holders), as well as on Internet Banking with a number of banc@perta users now over 176,000.
According to guidelines in the new Strategic Plan, the Creval Group is currently working on enhancing and developing the range of services already available to its clientele with the ultimately aim of providing the most technologically advanced solutions to meet the needs of its customers