On 26 March 2009, Moody's Investors Service assigned investment grade long-term debt and deposit ratings of Baa1 and a bank financial strength rating (BFSR) of C- to GBI.

The related press release is as follows:

Press release
9 October 2008
The Ministry of Finance and De Nederlandsche Bank announce the following

The Dutch financial system is essentially sound but is now facing major external shocks. The Dutch authorities are determined to safeguard the stability of, and confidence in, this system and to protect the financial enterprises within it. To this end, they will take all the necessary measures in the current exceptional circumstances, while keeping in line with similar initiatives recently taken by other countries, since this will also preserve a level playing field.

The measures by the Dutch authorities cover both liquidity provision and capital reinforcement. They are aimed at the banks and insurers established in the Netherlands and at groups to which those banks and insurers belong, as well as to financial subsidiaries established in the Netherlands of foreign financial enterprises or groups, regardless of their size(jointly referred to hereafter as financial enterprises).

Given the persistent tensions in the money markets, the Eurosystem decided on 8 October 2008 that, for as long as needed, but at least until 20 January 2009, it will carry out the weekly main refinancing operations with full allotment at a fixed rate. In addition, De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) will grant special credit to individual financial enterprises against adequate collateral, if and for as long as necessary. The short-term financing of these enterprises against collateral will hence be secured.

As regards solvency, the Dutch government is committed to make capital available to each financial enterprise in the Netherlands that is fundamentally sound and viable. The objective is to maintain these institutions? own funds at the levels deemed necessary by the supervisor. The contribution of the government can take various forms, such as a participation via preferential shares, or otherwise if so required on account of the legal form, group structure or other considerations. Any financial enterprise meeting the above description is entitled to apply for this measure. If necessary, financial enterprises may consult with the authorities on specific balance-sheet problems. In any event, all these measures will be subject to conditions in order to limit market distortions and the financial risks for the government and to prevent misuse. The conditions will relate, among other things, to guarantees on returns, the financing of operational costs by the financial enterprises concerned, executive pay and representation in the executive bodies.

The key principle for the Dutch authorities is to react flexibly to the rapidly changing circumstances. That is why they did not set up a fund with a specified amount in advance; nonetheless, EUR 20 billion is available immediately. The authorities will look at each application individually and will act quickly and decisively. The government?s contributions will be provided on market terms.

With these measures, the Dutch authorities are protecting the financial enterprises against the prevailing external shocks. While thus creating a solid basis for these enterprises, they are restoring and reinforcing confidence in the Dutch financial system and contributing to the stability of the international financial system.

The above applies for a period of one year as of 10 October 2008.

Finally, the Dutch authorities state that they are aware of the UK proposal for a concerted approach to the problem of restarting the funding market of financial enterprises. The Dutch authorities will actively take part in international discussions on this proposal.

The voting in this year's TFR Awards was not only the biggest ever, but also produced some of the closest voting ever, too - and some surprises.

Away from the winners, there were a number of interesting voting trends. Garanti emerged as 'one to watch' as it polled strongly in a number of areas, including Russia/CIS and came a close second to Fortis in the category of Best Soft Commodity Finance Bank.

To read Trade & Forfating Review's complete survey of best trade banks, visit Trade & Forfating Review web page.

GarantiBank International N.V, ING Wholesale Banking and VTB Bank Europe plc (together the "Mandated Lead Arrangers and Bookrunners") and VTB Bank Europe plc as the Facility Agent are pleased to confirm that the above mentioned Facility for Close joint-stock company "First Ukrainian International Bank" ("FUIB" or the "Bank" or the "Borrower") has been signed on 19th June 2008. The Facility was oversubscribed and increased from the launch amount of US$30,000,000 to US$50,000,000.

The Facility, which pays a margin of 185 bps per annum, has a tenor of 364 days from the Drawdown date and will be used for trade financing purposes.

FUIB, registered at and regulated by the National Bank of Ukraine, is a commercial bank with its registered office in Donetsk, Ukraine. The Bank was established on 20 November 1991 and commenced banking operations in April 1992. FUIB, with its 11 branches and 117 sub-branches, is owned by SCM Finance, which is part of System Capital Management Group ("SCM Group"), one of Ukraine's largest industrial holding companies.

According to the Ukrainian banks ranking by the National Bank of Ukraine, FUIB is one of the largest Ukrainian banks ranked 13th by assets and 7th by total equity as at 31 March 2008. FUIB has a substantial experience both in the domestic and the international financial markets and strong credit and risk management procedures.

The Bank is rated B2 by Moody's and B by Fitch.

For further information please contact:

Arap Turk Bankasi A.S. ,Banque de Commerce et de Placements , GarantiBank International N.V , Mashreq Bank and Turkiye Is Bankasi A.S (the "Mandated Lead Arrangers") are pleased to announce the signing of the Facility Agreement related to Syndicated Trade Related Club Finance Facility of USD 27,500,000 for CJSC "Alfa-Bank", established in Ukraine.

The Facility is structured as a club deal, carries a margin of 275 basis points and has a 1 year tenor.

For this Club Finance Facility, GarantiBank International N.V. acted as the Facility Agent.

CJSC Alfa-Bank registered in Ukraine in January 2001 operates in all key banking sectors, including retail, corporate banking, and arrangement and underwriting of corporate bonds. The Bank ranks among Ukraine's top ten in terms of assets.

For further information please contact:

Closed Joint-Stock Company "Alfa-Bank"
Mr Igor Tykhonov
Head of FI
Tel +380 44 490 46 00
itykhonov@alfabank.kiev.ua

On behalf of the Mandated Lead Arrangers contact:

GarantiBank International N.V.
Ms Masha Rokhlina
Senior Relationship Manager
Tel+ 31 20 553 99 37
mrokhlina@garantibank.eu

We are pleased to announce that the above transaction was signed in Amsterdam on Wednesday April 2, 2008. The Facility, launched at Euro 200,000,000, proved successful in syndication especially given the current turbulence of the global financial markets and closed over-subscribed. As a result, GarantiBank International N.V. elected to accept an increase in the facility amount to Euro 225,000,000.

The Facility was arranged by ABN AMRO Bank N.V., The Bank of New York, The Bank of Nova Scotia, BayernLB, HSH Nordbank AG Luxembourg Branch, ING Wholesale Banking, Intesa Sanpaolo SpA, London Branch, LRP Landesbank Rheinland-Pfalz (Member of the LBBW Group), Mashreqbank psc, Natixis, Raiffeisen Zentralbank Österreich Aktiengesellschaft, Standard Chartered Bank, UniCredit Group, Wachovia Bank, National Association, and WGZ BANK AG Westdeutsche Genossenschafts-Zentralbank (together the "Mandated Lead Arrangers" or "MLAs").

Banks in general syndication were approached by the Mandated Lead Arrangers to participate in the Facility at one of the following levels:

The interest margin is Libor plus 0.30%.

A full listing of participating banks is provided below:

Despite the credit crunch and liquidity squeeze in financial markets, GBI Trade Finance Division closed 2007 with USD 7.75 billion annual transaction origination volume, 15% surge over the previous year. In the same period, GBI facilitated 13 million metric tonnes of physical commodity trade. Product clusters that are included into the transaction volume are Transactional Commodity Finance Loans, Documentary Credits & Collections and Structured Products.

Transactional Commodity Finance Loans and Documentary Credits & Collections products constituted 70% of 2007 transaction volume. GBI Trade Finance also provided other boutique solutions to its valued clients around the globe such as ship and project finance, local currency loans and SME financing.

Commodity finance deals with underlying international trade of semi-finished steel, agri-commodities, electronics parts, steel scrap, non-ferrous metals, chemicals, coal and alloys constitute 62% of the transaction volume. The single largest chunk of the transaction volume is related to products supporting emerging market local banks, mostly located in Black Sea, Caspian and Mediterranean basin countries, in the form of stand-by letters of credit, post or pre-shipment financing and syndications.

GBI Trade Finance has not only built over its strengths regarding origination capability but also delivered value through USD 1.7 billion secondary distribution. In this capacity, GBI's clients are both developed and emerging markets banks and corporations seeking boutique solutions.

GBI's representative office network expansion in 2007 towards Ukraine, Kazakhstan and China next to the existing presence in Germany, Switzerland, Romania and Turkey shall not only add value to our client relations but also enhance our risk management capabilities. Same shall be reinforced by the fortification of GBI's Legal Department in 2007.

As being one of the five Dutch banks permitted accommodating internal risk based approach under Basel-II since January 2008, GBI enjoys a favourable regulatory capital framework and its advantages on its trade finance activities.

While being on an upward trend, GBI's trade finance transaction volume in 2007 maintained its level of diversification in terms of country of repayment; 43% Developed Countries, 18% Emerging Countries and 39% Turkey. Also in 2007, GBI completed the groundwork of an additional stand-alone business line, namely Structured Finance including Islamic Finance, Ship Finance and Project Finance product lines, thus further diversification regarding assets and revenue base.

GBI, established in Amsterdam since 1990, is a "global boutique" bank. Two core businesses of GBI are Private Banking and Trade Finance.

GBI is Basel II Foundation-IRB compliant for credit risk as of 1 January 2008 and follows Standardized Approach for market risk and the Basic Indicator Approach for operational risk.

GBI benefits from advanced risk measurement and management practices in its day-to-day activities. This provides the Bank significant expertise and opportunity to enhance the risk management culture within the Bank as well as promotes the use of advanced risk management tools in decision-making and risk monitoring processes. As an IRB compliant bank, GBI has now the capacity to leverage the accumulated risk management know-how and the pre-established risk culture, which provides a more risk sensitive and transparent risk management framework for all of its stakeholders.

The Basel II project is defined and organized as a part of the current risk management organization. The day-to-day activities within the Basel II project are executed by the RMD. In 2006 and 2007 RMD, supported by a number of business segment specialists and external advisors, completed major design, development and implementation activities required to achieve Basel II compliance. All risk-rating models were reviewed, developed and implemented across all business lines in order to integrate the risk measures with the credit decision making process. During 2007, parallel runs and the supervisory review process have also been completed and the verification of De Nederlandsche Bank has been received to start the implementation.

GBI has fortified its Legal Department with the aim to add further value to its clientele on documentation and legal related issues. Especially Trade Finance, Private Banking and Structured Finance divisions shall be the internal customers of GBI Legal led by Nicholas Budd, a former partner at Denton Wilde Sapte and White & Case law firms, and Manolya Koprulu, formerly a GBI Credit Officer, who holds an LLM degree from University of Utrecht.

On August 6th, 2007 International Bank of Azerbaijan - Moscow ("IBA-Moscow") successfully signed a USD 50 million syndicated term loan facility. The syndication was launched at USD 25 million and the overwhelming response of the market resulted in an over subscription to the tune of USD 60.5 million. The borrower has capped the facility amount at USD 50 million.

The proceeds will be used for IBA-Moscow's general corporate purposes including trade transactions. GarantiBank International N.V. and ICICI BANK UK PLC were the Initial Mandated Lead Arrangers and Bookrunners.

Prior to the launch of general syndication, Banco Finantia S.A. and Mashreqbank PSC joined the facility as Senior Mandated Lead Arrangers. The syndication was signed with an optimum mix of 16 investors from 11 countries from Asia and Europe.

List of investors:

Initial Mandated Lead Arrangers and Bookrunners

• GarantiBank International N.V.
• ICICI Bank UK Plc.

Senior Mandated Lead Arrangers

• Banco Finantia, S.A.
• Mashreqbank PSC

Mandated Lead Arrangers

• Bank SinoPac, Offshore Banking Branch
• Banif - Banco Internacional do Funchal, SA
• DEPFA Investment Bank Ltd
• FBN Bank (UK) Ltd
• Mega International Commercial Bank Co. Ltd., Paris branch
• OTP Bank Plc
• The Economy Bank N.V.
• VakifBank International AG

Lead Arrangers

• Banque de Commerce et de Placements SA
• Caixa Geral de Depósitos S.A., France Branch
• Landesbank Berlin AG

Arranger

• Turkiye Is Bankasi A.S. Bahrain Branch

For further information, you may contact:

GarantiBank International N.V.;
Masha Rokhlina , Tel: + 31 20 553 99 37; mrokhlina@garantibank.eu

ICICI Bank UK PLC
Siddarth Rupani, Tel: +44 207 220 0138; siddarth.rupani@icicibank.com

Parallel to its growth strategy, GarantiBank International N.V. ("GBI") is proud to announce the launch of a new business line within the existing organisation. The new business line "Structured Finance Division" shall have the mandate to cover Project Finance, Marine Finance, Islamic Finance and Dutch Corporate Business. Effective August the 6th, 2007 Erhan Zeyneloglu has been appointed as the Executive Director in charge of this new business line. Erhan shall also continue to his role as an ALCO and Management Team member.

Erhan started his banking career in 1992 as a Management Trainee of Garanti Bank Turkey. He joined GBI in February 1996. After working in the Credits and Trade Finance Divisions for several years, he was promoted to the position of Executive Director of Credits Division in 2001 and had been heading this Division since then.

The above appointment indicate GBI`s dedication to healthy growth. Such growth shall not only be confined to core businesses such as Private Banking and Trade Finance but shall also be driven by related market segments boosting cross-selling and synergy.

Being a "global boutique", GBI is committed to providing best solutions to its present and future relationships. We shall continue supporting our clients and counterparts benefiting from GBI`s healthy growth.

Effective August the 6th, 2007, Sertac Kanan is promoted to take over Credits Division as the Executive Director. In his new position, Sertac shall be leading sovereign, bank and corporate credit functions and shall also become a member of ALCO and Management Team.

Sertac started his banking career at GBI Istanbul Representative Office in 1996. After working in Istanbul and Amsterdam Trade Finance teams, he was appointed as Head of Trade and Commodity Finance in 2001 within Trade Finance Division.

The above appointment indicate GBI`s dedication to healthy growth. Such growth shall not only be confined to core businesses such as Private Banking and Trade Finance but shall also be driven by related market segments boosting cross-selling and synergy.

Being a "global boutique", GBI is committed to providing best solutions to its present and future relationships. We shall continue supporting our clients and counterparts benefiting from GBI`s healthy growth.

GarantiBank International N.V. ( GarantiBank) has received "Quality Recognition Award " from Bank of New York for its outstanding payment formatting and straight through rate for USD payments during the year 2006. The award has been granted for GarantiBank`s achievement over 98% straight through processing rate for the payments sent to Bank of New York.

We are pleased to announce that Moody's Investors Service reconfirmed GBI's Long-term Bank Deposits rating of A3 with a stable outlook on 16 October 2008.

The rating reflects GBI's role as a niche player in the competitive segment of international trade and commodity finance, strong financial fundamentals and asset quality, historically low credit losses, reliable funding profile and solid profitability, while also taking into consideration the bank's exposure to emerging markets, particularly the risks associated with the Turkish market and the CIS countries.

The full rating report is available in pdf format

We are pleased to announce that Moody's Investors Service confirmed GBI's Long term Bank Deposits rating of A3 on 25 January 2008*. This rating reflects GBI's role as a niche player in the competitive segment of international trade finance and private banking, its strong financial fundamentals and asset quality, historically low credit losses, a reliable funding profile and solid profitability, whilst also taking into consideration GBI's exposure to emerging markets, particularly the risk of the Turkish market.

A3 rating represents the highest investment grade level so far a bank with a Turkish shareholder has ever received. We are proud of having set a new benchmark among our peers in our niche market. With this rating upgrade, in terms of risk level, GBI takes its place next to various well-established European banks. This also confirms the success of GBI's sustainable growth and diversification strategy. Our success is built on to focus on a client-driven approach in providing products and services in a cost-effective way, to maintain a strong financial discipline and a fortress balance sheet, to secure a robust system of internal governance and controls, to operate with the highest standards of integrity and to be open and honest with ourselves, our colleagues, our shareholders and our communities.

We are confident that, working together with our clients and bank partners, we are building a world-class financial institution that delivers excellence in its core businesses. We are determined to set higher goals and continuously increase the standards in the years to come.

GarantiBank International N.V.
Managing Board

* The full rating report is available in pdf format

We are pleased to announce that Moody's Investors Service upgraded Long term Bank Deposits rating of GarantiBank International N.V. by two notches to A3 from Baa2 as at 24 February 2007. The rating upgrade reflects GBI's role as a niche player in the competitive segment of international trade finance and private banking, its strong financial fundamentals and asset quality, historically low credit losses, a reliable funding profile and solid profitability, whilst also taking into consideration GBI's exposure to emerging markets, particularly the risk of the Turkish market.

A3 rating represents the highest investment grade level so far a bank with a Turkish shareholder has ever received. We are proud of setting a new benchmark among our peers in our niche market. With this rating upgrade, in terms of risk level, GBI takes its place next to various well-established European banks. This also confirms the success of GBI's sustainable growth and diversification strategy. Our success is built on to focus on a client-driven approach in providing products and services in a cost-effective way, to maintain a strong financial discipline and a fortress balance sheet, to secure a robust system of internal governance and controls, to operate with the highest standards of integrity and to be open and honest with ourselves, our colleagues, our shareholders and our communities.

The rating upgrade is a breakthrough for GBI and opens a new era for new opportunities. This will enhance our efforts to pursue our proven business model, exploit the opportunities and hence attain sustainable growth and high returns on equity.

We are confidant that, working together with our clients and bank partners, we are building a world-class financial institution that delivers excellence in its core businesses. We are determined to set higher goals and continuously increase the standards in the years to come.

GarantiBank International N.V.
Managing Board

During first half of 2006, GarantiBank International NV ("GBI") facilitated 5.7 million metric tonnes of physical commodity trade through its Trade Finance Division. Total transaction volume was USD 3.1 billion for the same period. These figures represent 17% and 24% growth in tonnage and USD value, respectively. Such activity includes steel and steel making raw materials, agri-business commodities, chemicals, thermal coal, non-ferrous metals and other merchandise.

Reaching to 3.8 million metric tonnes with 12% growth, steel and steel making raw materials is the largest commodity cluster in our half-year volume. 39% of this cluster is related to flat and long steel, 33% is coking coal, 19% is steel scrap and the rest 9% consists of mainly pig-iron and ferro-alloys.

Next largest commodity cluster is agri-business commodities with 1.3 million metric tonnes volume and 16% growth. In this cluster, GBI facilitates physical trade of fertilizers, grains and edible oil.

In addition to facilitating commodity trade in selected areas, GBI also facilitated international trade in other areas such as financing machinery and equipment trade and providing trade-related financing to selected emerging markets' local banks. In such capacity, GBI is one of the top five global forfaiting houses, is represented on the Board of International Forfaiting Association and has extensively mobilized its origination and distribution muscles to facilitate international trade by adding value to its valued clients and counterparts.

GBI is a regional expert of international trade finance covering transactional commodity finance, structured trade finance and forfaiting markets to add value to Black Sea, Caspian and Mediterranean basin countries' trade-flows. Next to Trade Finance, Private Banking is one of the two core businesses of GBI.

GBI is based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands since 1990 and is an operationally independent subsidiary of Garanti Bank Turkey, whose shareholding structure includes Doğus Group, Turkey and General Electric, USA on equal partnership basis.

GarantiBank International NV

Alpha Bank A.E., Bank Austria Creditanstalt AG, Banco BPI Cayman Ltd, The Bank of New York, The Bank of Nova Scotia, BayernLB, Erste Bank der oesterreichischen Sparkassen AG, HSH Nordbank AG, Mashreqbank psc, Natexis Banques Populaires, Raiffeisen Zentralbank Österreich Aktiengesellschaft, Standard Chartered Bank, Wachovia Bank, National Association, WGZ-Bank AG. (together the "Mandated Lead Arrangers") are pleased to announce the successful closing of the syndication of the Dual Tranche Term Loan Facility for Amsterdam based GBI.

As the facility was significantly over-subscribed, the Facility Amount was increased to US$ 250 million and participants were scaled back. Signing took place in Paris on Friday 24th March 2006.

The bank group, allocations and status were as follows:

Natexis Banques Populaires and Standard Chartered Bank acted as Joint Bookrunners. The Bank of New York is the Facility Agent.

During 2005, GBI had facilitated more than 11 million metric tonnes of commodity trade. Such figure corresponds to a 22% increase over 2004.

The largest portion, 35%, in GBI's tonnage volume was related to steel and steel making raw materials ("S+SMRM"). When compared to the previous year, S+SMRM tonnage GBI financed decreased by 20% and became 3.9 million metric tonnes. Such development took place as a result of the steel price volatility in Q2 and Q3 of 2005.

Next largest commodity cluster, being 30%, is energy commodities. There, GBI financed 3.3 million metric tonnes of material, largely being thermal coal.

Remainder of the commodity tonnage included non-ferrous metals, chemicals, grains, fertilizers and other materials.

In addition to facilitating commodity trade in selected areas, GBI also facilitated international trade in other areas such as financing machinery and equipment trade and providing trade-related financing to emerging markets local banks. In such capacity, GBI became one of the top five global forfaiting houses in 2005 and extensively mobilized its origination and distribution muscles to facilitate international trade and to add value to its valued clients and counterparts.

Total transaction volume of all trade finance activity in 2005 was realized as USD 5.1 billion.

GBI is a regional expert of international trade finance covering transactional commodity finance, structured trade finance and forfaiting markets to add value to Black Sea, Caspian and Mediterranean basin countries' trade-flows. Next to Private Banking, Trade Finance is one of the two core businesses of GBI.

As of December 2005, the indirect co-shareholder of GBI is General Electric Company of USA as a result of its purchase of 25.5% shares of Garanti Bank Turkey. Garanti Bank is among the top three privately controlled financial institutions in Turkey. General Electric is the world's largest holding corporation with interests in finance, manufacturing, technology and media. GBI is an operationally independent subsidiary of Garanti Bank Turkey established in Amsterdam, the Netherlands since 1990.

GBI is owned by Garanti Bank Turkey, one of the three largest financial institutions of Turkey. In December 2005 General Electric Consumer Finance, owned by the well-known American corporation General Electric acquired 25.5% of our parent bank's shares. General Electric and Garanti Bank are a perfect match because the expertise and products of the two companies complement each other to form a point of departure for future product development within Europe and even outside. Obviously the participation of General Electric generates a much more solid shareholder structure for GBI. Please go to www.geconsumerfinance.com to have a better insight of General Electric Consumer Finance.

GarantiBank International NV was the Main Sponsor of the 53rd IREPAS Conference in Amsterdam. The event took place on the 2nd and the 3rd of October, 2005 and brought together the steel industry producers, end-users, traders, related experts and service providers as well as banks. Oral Draman, Executive Director of GBI Trade Finance also made a presentation on "Trade Finance Markets" at the Conference.

As a result of the elections at the Annual General Meeting of International Forfaiting Association on 22-September-2005 Athens, GarantiBank International's Sema Zeyneloglu, Manager Forfaiting and Structured Trade Finance, is elected on the Main Board of IFA. Main Board of IFA is the ultimate organ overseeing the global forfaiting activity. Sema will chair the Communications Committee and will also act as the co-head of the Education Committee.

Turkish GarantiBank International, domiciled in the Netherlands, financed 3.4m tonnes of trade in steel and steel-making raw materials in the first half of 2005. Steel trade makes up a significant part of the bank's business.

Over 50% of this tonnage was steel and other ferrous raw materials from Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and Romania. Around 40% was related to exported coking coal from North America, Steel Business Briefing learns.

"We shall maintain our commitment to this industry, and continue providing value-added trade finance banking services for the Black Sea, Caspian and Mediterranean basin countries", a top bank executive tells SBB.

For the first half of this year, 47% of the banks's $2.5bn trade finance volume was steel-industry oriented. 22/07/05 5/11

GarantiBank was established in 1990 in Amsterdam.

The article reads: GarantiBank has expanded its commodity finance teams in Amsterdam with four fresh recruits. Tonguc Coskun, Unsal Kayikci, Onur Topal and Alena Petrukhina joined Garanti's two commodity finance departments as junior relationship managers.

Oral Draman, executive director of the trade finance group at GarantiBank International, told TFR : "As a natural consequence of more than 65% annual volume growth to $5bn in 2004, we've expanded our trade finance division. The new recruits have joined with a lot of enthusiasm, energy and willingness to learn and perform."

He adds: "We also have plans to hire additional junior staff in our structured trade finance and forfaiting departments this year."

GarantiBank recently extended its commodity finance department in Amsterdam into two mutually exclusive commodity finance units.

The first unit, headed by Sertac Kanan, will continue to provide added value to trade flows that involve steel scrap, grains, edible oil, fertilizers and chemicals. The second unit, led by Ali Arolat, will focus on providing solutions to trade flows of steam coal, steel products, semi-finished product and steel-making raw materials, excluding steel scrap, said Draman.

During 2005H1, GBI financed or facilitated an aggregate of 4.9 million metric tonnes of commodities trade, which resulted an aggregate transaction volume of USD 2.5 billion. Whereas, in 2004 total commodity tonnage financed or facilitated was approximately 9 million metric tonnes yielding USD 5 billion transaction volume.

As of first half of 2005, GarantiBank International NV ("GBI") financed or facilitated 3.4 million metric tonnes of steel and steel making raw materials trade. For entire 2004, GBI's tonnage volume related to steel and steel making raw materials was 4.9 million metric tonnes. Such steel and steel making raw materials transactions generated USD 1.2 billion transaction volume for GBI in 2005H1. The same transaction volume component for the entire 2004 was USD 2.1 billion.

Moreover, in the first half of 2005, GBI financed 1.1 million metric tonnes of Agri-business trade. These transactions generated USD 293 million transaction volume. For whole 2004, GBI's tonnage volume in agri-business was 1.8 million metric tones and generated USD 420 million transaction volume.

On 28 Jun 2005 Erhan Zeyneloglu, Executive Director Credit Division, made a presentation at "Securing Transactions in Emerging Commodity Markets: new techniques" conference held in Rotterdam by Day Robinson.

With more than 65% leap over 2003; trade finance transaction volume of GBI in 2004 was USD 5 bn. Majority of Commodity Finance deals in 2004 were ferrous metals related while loan-trading activity on the Forfaiting front gained further ground. Details of 2004 will be disclosed in our Annual Report, which is to be available in April 2005.

The Bank of New York, The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Ltd., Erste Bank der oesterreichischen Sparkassen AG, HSH Nordbank AG, Natexis Banques Populaires, Raiffeisen Zentralbank Österreich Aktiengesellschaft, Standard Chartered Bank, Wachovia Bank, National Association and WestLB AG, London Branch (together the "Mandated Lead Arrangers") are pleased to announce that the new US$100 million 364-day syndicated term loan facility (the "Facility") for GarantiBank International N.V. was signed on 25th February 2005 in Amsterdam. Following a successful syndication the Borrower elected to increase the Facility from its launch amount of US$75 million to US$100 million.

The terms of the Facility are as follows:

In syndication a select number of banks were invited to join as a Co-Arranger (commitment of US$ 5 million and participation fee of 40bps), and as a Lead Manager (commitment of US$2.5 million and participation fee of 35bps).

The following Banks joined the transaction:

Fitch Ratings-London-24 January 2005: Fitch Ratings, the international rating agency, has today revised Netherlands-based GarantiBank International NV‘s ("GBI") Long-term rating Outlook to Positive from Stable. At the same time the agency has affirmed GBI‘s ratings at Long-term 'BB+' Short-term 'B', Individual 'C/D' and Support '4'.

The Positive Outlook reflects the improvement in GBI's profitability and risk profile. Fitch expects Turkish risk on the balance sheet to further decline and the bank's core profitability to continue its improving trend.

GBI's profitability improved during 2004, driven by a combination of higher core revenues and improved efficiency. Fitch further notes that GBI has been successful in diversifying its risk exposure away from Turkey in recent years. However, given Turkey's sub-investment grade Long-term rating of 'BB-' (BB minus), GBI's Turkish exposure is still relatively high at 45% of total assets at end-2004.

The Long-term, Short-term and Individual ratings reflect GBI's healthy asset quality, growing and resilient retail deposit base, comfortable capitalisation and enhanced risk management systems. The ratings also take into account the bank's small size, its good but specialised trade finance franchise and reduced, albeit still high Turkish risk exposure.

GBI is 100%-owned by Garanti Bank Turkey (also see separate Fitch report on www.fitchratings.com), a premier Turkish private sector bank, which, in turn, is majority owned by Dogus Group (also see separate Fitch report), a Turkish conglomerate. GBI focuses on trade finance, private banking and retail deposit taking.

On 21/December/2004, GBI launched the upgraded version of its website. The website not only explains how we can add value to your trade flows but also includes a link to the efficient and recently upgraded Internet Banking tool. The tool provides speed and accuracy to our Internet Banking clients regarding their administration of their accounts, transactions and portfolios without compromising security and ease of use.

Oral Draman, Executive Director of GBI Trade Finance Group, delivered a workshop to MBA students on Trade Finance Markets at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus Universiteit on 7/December/2004.

On 6/December/2004 Sema Zeyneloglu, Manager of GBI Forfaiting and Structured Trade Finance, delivered a presentation at Trade Finance in Central and Eastern Europe Conference held in Bucharest organized by Ark Group.

Trade Finance 2004 half year transaction volume has been USD 2.4 billion, an 83% increase over the same period of the last year. Such volume leap in 2004 H1 is partly a result of the strong upward trend in commodity prices mainly driven by China and partly due to the temporarily depressed transaction volume of 2003 H1 under the negative influences of SARS epidemic and military operations in Iraq.

The Bank of New York, HSH Nordbank AG, Natexis Banques Populaires, Rabobank International, Standard Chartered Bank, Wachovia Bank, National Association and WestLB AG (acting through its London Branch) together (the "Joint Arrangers") are pleased to announce that the new US$75 million 364-day syndicated term loan facility (the "Facility") for GarantiBank International N.V. was signed on 30 January 2004 in Amsterdam. Following a successful senior syndication the Borrower elected not to undertake a wider syndication and to increase the Facility from its launch amount of US$60 million to US$75 million at signing.

The terms of the Facility are as follows:

In senior syndication banks were invited to join as a co-arranger with a commitment of US$5 million with participation fees of 45bps. In addition to Joint Arrangers, American Express Gmbh, Emirates Bank International , Erste Bank, and WGZ-Bank joined as co-arrangers in addition to which Union Bank of California joined as a Senior Lead Manager.

Roles for the Facility are as follows:

The Trade and Commodity Finance department has successfully increased its penetration on the Fertiliser market. The deals generated through that commodity reached 17% of the total Trade and Commodity Finance volume of the bank where the main origination countries are Russian Federation and Ukraine.

The head of our Forfaiting Department, Mrs Sema Zeyneloglu, has been elected as one of the 7 Board members of the IFA (International Forfaiting Association) Northern Europe Committee.

The Gazprom STF Deal for USD 325 Mio where GarantiBank International NV acted as the Senior Co-Arranger has been chosen as one of the Deals of the Year 2002 by the Trade Finance Magazine. The transaction is pick of the bunch not only for sheer magnitude, but also for being innovative.

The facility features a syndication structure with three tranches, each with a different repayment profile. These were: 1) A six year tranche corresponding to the facility's term (one year grace and a five year repayment period); 2) A six year tranche including a four year grace period; and 3) A four year tranche including a one year grace period. This flexible tranche system made the deal accessible to more traditional Russian pre-export financing investors. Banks that had been unable to consider long-term tenors could book some Gazprom risk by participating in the four year tranche. At the same time, the legal structuring of the tranches allowed Gazprom to benefit from the syndication's upside, without being affected by the diversity of the sub-facilities, and to receive a single consolidated one year grace and five year repayment facility at a single margin.

Another notable quality of the deal was the offshore positing of export proceeds. Assignment was made in favour of an English trustee of the Gazprom-Transgas gas export contract's rights. Meanwhile a central bank of Russia licence made reference to the possible offshore set-off of the debt - a rare feature in a Russian pre-export finance transaction.