SAMPO PLC TO SELL SAMPO BANK GROUP TO DANSKE BANK A/S

    SAMPO PLC                         STOCK EXCHANGE RELEASE
9 November 2006 at 9:00


SAMPO PLC TO SELL SAMPO BANK GROUP TO DANSKE BANK A/S

Sampo plc has today signed an agreement to sell all Sampo Bank plc's
shares to Danske Bank A/S. The cash consideration is EUR 4,050
million. Before the closing of the transaction Sampo Bank will pay a
dividend of EUR 25 million to Sampo plc. Sampo Group will book a
sales gain of approximately EUR 2.9 billion from the transaction. The
sales gain is not taxable for Sampo plc and the transaction will
increase the Group's equity capital from EUR 4.6 billion to EUR 7.5
billion. The transaction requires the necessary approvals, which are
expected to be received in the beginning of 2007.

Sampo Bank will continue to operate under its current name. The
transaction has no effect on customer relationships.

Sampo Bank Group consists of Sampo Bank plc in Finland and its
subsidiary banks in the Baltic countries and Russia and a number of
investment services companies, the most important of which are
Mandatum Asset Management Ltd, Sampo Fund Management Ltd, Mandatum &
Co Ltd. and Mandatum Securities Ltd. The bank and investment services
reported a pre-tax profit of EUR 279 million in January-September
2006, which was approximately 31 per cent of Sampo Group's total
pre-tax profit. The operations included in the transaction covered 25
per cent of Sampo Group's total net assets at 30 September 2006.

Sampo Group's other business areas, P&C insurer If and life insurance
company Sampo Life, continue to follow their current strategies.
Sampo Group is the leading Nordic insurer with an annual premium
income of EUR 3.5 billion in P&C insurance and EUR 600 million in
life insurance. Sampo Group is also one of the largest investors in
the Nordic region. The transaction increases the Group's investment
assets from EUR 16 billion to EUR 20 billion.

Sampo Bank, the new owner of which will be Danske Bank, and Sampo
Life have today signed a co-operation agreement that secures for
Sampo Life the right to sell life and pension insurance products
through Sampo Bank's branch network also in the future.

Mika Ihamuotila, President and CEO of Sampo Bank plc, will continue
in his present role until the closing of the transaction, after which
he will join Sampo plc and continue as a member of the Group
Executive Board.

Roschier, Attorneys Ltd and Krogerus, Attorneys Ltd are acting as
Sampo's legal advisors on this transaction, the former in general
transactional issues and the latter in IT issues. Sampo's financial
adviser is JPMorgan.

Sampo plc will arrange a press conference today at 10.30 am
(Unioninkatu 22, Helsinki) on the transaction and on the third
quarter 2006 results and an English-language telephone conference for
investors and analysts at 12.30 p.m. Finnish time(for details see
www.sampo.com/ir).


SAMPO PLC

Jarmo Salonen
Head of investor relations


For more information, please contact:
Peter Johansson, Group CFO, tel. +358 10 516 0010
Jarmo Salonen, Head of Investor Relations, tel. +358 10 516 0030
Hannu Vuola, Head of Group Communications, tel. +358 10 516 0040


DISTRIBUTION:
The Helsinki Stock Exchange
The principal media
www.sampo.com
Financial Supervisory Authority

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