Operating profit is more than twice as high as the year-ago figure / Trades executed for individual customers are more than 68% higher than the year-ago figure / Customer assets under administration reach new record of ¬26.86 billion / Number of securities deposits rises to 967,918

The DAB bank Group (Munich), which operates in Germany and Austria, earned a pretax profit of ¬11.12 million for the first quarter of 2006, the best quarterly profit in its history. Moreover, this figure represents more than one third of the Group's full-year profit goal for 2006. Compared to the first quarter of last year (Q1/2005: ¬5.01 million), the Munich-based direct bank more than doubled its quarterly operating profit. Adjusted for the first-time consolidation effect caused by the acquisition of FondsServiceBank, which reduced the prior-year figure by ¬4.58 million, the Q1 2006 operating profit was 16.0% higher than the Q1 2005 figure.

The total income of the DAB bank Group for the first quarter of 2006 was ¬42.74 million, 30.9% higher than the corresponding prior-year figure (Q1/2005: ¬32.64 million, or ¬40.62 million including the badwill occasioned by the integration of FondsServiceBank). At ¬36.87 million, the net commission income for the overall group was 55.3% higher than the prior-year figure (Q1/2005: ¬23.75 million). The net financial income, defined as the sum of net interest income before 

provisions for possible losses, plus the profit/loss from investments and the trading profit/loss, amounted to ¬4.22 million (Q1/2005: ¬8.64 million). The administrative expenses for the first quarter amounted to ¬31.62 million, indicative of a disproportionately low increase over the prior-year quarter (Q1/2005: ¬27.64 million; ¬31.04 million including the expenses of restructuring and integrating FondsServiceBank), compared to the increase in total income, due to economies of scale.

Continuing a trend of steady growth, DAB bank achieved renewed increases both in the number of securities deposits and the volume of customer assets held in the bank's accounts. The DAB bank Group added 12,198 new securities deposits during the first quarter of 2006, bringing the total to 967,918. During the same period, the volume of customer assets held in the bank's accounts increased by ¬1.88 billion to reach ¬26.86 billion, a new record for DAB bank. The positive mood in the stock markets was reflected in the number of trades executed for customers. In the first quarter of 2006, DAB bank executed 1,326,382 orders for its individual customers, 67.8% more than the prior-year quarter (Q1 2005: 790,279). For all its customer groups combined, DAB bank executed a total of 3,062,731 trades, 54.5% more than the prior-year figure (Q1/2005: 1,982,855). Groupwide, the average number of trades per securities account and year came to 12.74 (Q1/2005: 8.95).

DAB bank is sticking to its goal of profitable growth. For the full year 2006, DAB bank is aiming to generate a pretax profit of ¬33 million. By the end of 2007, the bank is seeking to raise its return on equity before taxes to 30%. The cost-income ratio, which was 74.0% for the first quarter of 2006, can be expected to come out lower than 80% for the full year, meeting the goal established for this indicator. Pending approval by the annual general meeting to be held on May 11, 2006, the company will pay a dividend of 18 cents per share for 2005 (as compared with 15 cents per share for 2004).