* KAS BANK and dwpbank have established a partnership in principle to further  develop the German, Netherlands and European securities services markets.

* dwpbank and KAS BANK will create a securities platform for the Dutch financial  services sector, based on dwpbank’s technology and the securities services know  how of KAS BANK; dwpbank plans to open a branch in   Amsterdam by mid 2012

* KAS BANK and dwpbank will approach the institutional client base of dwpbank to  offer Wholesale Value Added Services and jointly to further develop the German  market

KAS BANK N.V. and Deutsche WertpapierService Bank AG (dwpbank) have reached agreement in principle on a partnership regarding retail and wholesale services. They have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). KAS BANK is market leader in the Netherlands in Wholesale Securities Services, dwpbank is market leader in Germany in Securities Services.

The common goal of the partnership is to develop a European securities processing platform to deliver cross border synergies and economies of scale in Transaction Banking. This will result from combining the core competences of both parties.

To date, the Dutch market is characterised by a relatively low level of outsourcing. Approximately 50 Banks and other financial institutions with ca. 5 million securities accounts could therefore profit from a bundled securities processing platform. Both parties anticipate considerable business opportunities, which could lead to advantages in costs as well as quality improvements for the participating Dutch financial institutions.

In the proposed first step, dwpbank will establish a branch in Amsterdam in close cooperation with KAS BANK. The expectation is that around 160 KAS BANK securities specialists will be moving to the new branch, to provide the necessary expertise and technical and market knowledge. During the subsequent transition period, dwpbank and KAS BANK will develop WP2, the current securities processing platform of dwpbank in Germany, as a core platform to support this business. Furthermore this pan-European platform will form the basis of servicing future Dutch and European clients.

The partnership will give KAS BANK the opportunity to optimise its growth opportunities both in the Netherlands and in Germany. Therefore KAS BANK will get market entrance in the German wholesale market through dwpbank and will offer dwpbank and its retail and wholesale clients a range of custody and other value added services that address the associated governance issues and the ever-greater degree of European harmonisation.

The growing complexity of international securities transactions is prompting banks and other financial institutions to seek wider-reaching economies of scale and quality improvements. By establishing this new platform, KAS BANK and dwpbank give a first impulse to solve this problem for the whole - yet fragmented - European securities market. In scope is not only processing of securities, but also the fast-growing services in the field of pension savings and back office services to Premium Pension Institutions (PPIs).

Says Albert Röell, Chairman of the KAS BANK Managing Board: “The partnership with dwpbank is intended to enable both parties to achieve further growth in Europe. The specialised platform is similar in design to the current, efficient system for the central processing of payment transactions in the Netherlands and other European countries. We are delighted to have teamed up with dwpbank in providing the Dutch market with this solution and to expand our services in wholesale banking in Germany together with our new partner at the same time. This move will strengthen KAS BANK’s position on the European securities markets.”

Dr. Markus Walch, board member of dwpbank: “This future partnership with KAS BANK is an important milestone in the further development of dwpbank. Both parties complement each other, and together will support the consolidation of the European securities markets. Therefore the Netherlands is for us an important target market and for which KAS BANK is a perfect partner. ”

Karl-Martin im Brahm, board member of dwpbank, responsible for sales: “dwpbank has proven its ability to realise economies of scales through bundling of transaction settlement services. We would like to export this successful model together with our new partner to markets outside of Germany. Therefore Amsterdam as an established financial centre with good relationships to other Benelux countries forms an ideal point of departure for our internationalisation.”

The proposed partnership is expected to commence in the second quarter of 2012, subject to the usual approval of amongst others the relevant regulatory authorities and signing a binding contract.