Postfinance: Annual result 2007

PostFinance operates in the retail banking sector and specializes in payment transactions. Last year, Swiss Post's financial arm posted strong growth again. PostFinance saw 181,000 new postal accounts opened – a record figure that brought the total to 3.3 million by the end of the year (+5.7%). Over half of the new accounts were opened in the savings segment, an area in which PostFinance again positioned itself as a financial institution for savers. The number of Deposito accounts rose by 100,000 to 950,000 and the savings volume soared to 12.2 billion Swiss francs. Compared with the year-back period this corresponds to an increase in volume of 8.5 percent, whereas the Swiss savings market declined by 9.3%, according to Swiss National Bank figures. The inflow of new money also increased significantly to 3.4 billion Swiss francs. Customer deposits rose by 7.5% to 43.7 billion francs. Thanks to this growth, PostFinance was able to create 183 full-time jobs throughout Switzerland.

Market position in e-finance and payment transactions consolidated Growth in the electronic account management segment continues uninterrupted with e- finance. 98,000 persons registered for e-finance last year, which corresponds to over 8,000 customers per month. With around 850,000 e-finance customers, PostFinance is the clear market leader in the Swiss online-banking field. It has also consolidated this position in payment transactions in Switzerland. Processed transactions rose from 803 million in 2006 to 823 million in 2007.

Substantial increase in earnings For 2007 PostFinance will post a profit that is well above the previous year's figure.

The exact results of all units of Swiss Post will be published at the press conference for analysts on 19 March 2008.

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