Athens, 31/03/2003

Dear Mr. Chairman,

The financial groups, namely, National Bank of Greece, Alpha Bank S.A., EFG Eurobank Ergasias S.A., Commercial Bank of Greece S.A., Agricultural Bank of Greece S.A., Piraeus Bank S.A. and the Postal Savings Bank of Greece, jointly in response to the announced intention of the Greek Government regarding the offering of shares of the company Hellenic Exchanges S.A. (EHAE), which it owns, submitted a proposal on 28.03.03 to the Ministry of Finance, in which they are undertaking the responsibility on the one hand, of the takeover(in cash) of the equivalent of 10.144.381 shares for each financial group, as the existing shareholder of EHAE, and on the other hand, the underwriting for the remaining of the shares, i.e. 13.601.829 shares and cumulatively for the total of 23.746.210 shares, which correspond to 33,4% of the total number of shares of the EHAE Group.

Regarding the underwriting, they are undertaking the obligation to offer, through a private placement to the rest of the shareholders (existing) that will possess EHAE shares on a specific date, that will be determined, the equivalent number of shares to each shareholder at the same price that will be set for the acquisition of the first block of shares by the seven (7) financial groups. Our proposal and the conditions required for the completion of the transaction, are currently examined by the Ministry of Finance.

The financial groups:
National Bank of Greece, Alpha Bank S.A., EFG Eurobank Ergasias S.A., Commercial Bank of Greece S.A., Agricultural Bank of Greece S.A., Piraeus Bank S.A. and the Postal Savings Bank of Greece

On behalf of all financial groups,

Mr. Apostolos A.Tamvakakis
Chairman of the Board
National Bank of Greece S.A.