Amended: Fitch Teleconf: Update On Germany's Landesbank Ratings Today at 1 p.m. EDT / 1800 BST / 7 p.m. CET.

NEW YORK & FRANKFURT, Germany -- (The following amended press release now includes call-replay information at bottom).

Fitch Ratings will hold a teleconference today at 1 p.m. EDT to update capital market and journalists on Germany's Landesbank ratings.

Early this morning, Fitch assigned ratings to those short-term obligations of 11 Landesbanks not covered by "Gewaehrtraegerhaftung" -- a form of state guarantee. The new ratings range from 'F1+' to 'F2'. Fitch has also downgraded Bankgesellschaft Berlin's ("BGB") Short-term rating to 'F2' from 'F1' and changed Landesbank Berlin's Support rating to '2' from '1'. The Support ratings for the other 11 Landesbanks and BGB, as well as the unguaranteed Short-term rating for Landesbank Hessen-Thueringen, are affirmed. Details of these ratings are presented below.

At the same time, Fitch has affirmed its Short-term ratings at 'F1+' for the 12 Landesbanks' obligations covered by "Gewaehrtraegerhaftung", based on the grandfathering of this guarantee. The guaranteed Short-term ratings will expire for most of these obligations by July 2006.

Today's teleconference, 'Update on Landesbank Ratings', will be held at 1:00 p.m. EDT (New York Time); 1800 BST; 7 p.m. Central Europe Time (CET).

Thomas von Luepke, Head of Bank Analysis Germany, will host the teleconference, which will include a discussion of the following topics:

--A comparison of Landesbanks' and major banks' Individual ratings; un-guaranteed Landesbank short-term ratings; and ratings of public-law banks in Germany (including so-called "Verbundratings")

To participate in the teleconference, please provide the following information:

U.S. and Canadian Participants: [phone]

All European/U.K and Int'l Participants: [phone]

Conference Name: Fitch Ratings

Conference ID: 7693645

Call Leader: Thomas von Luepke

Call Replay Information:

A replay of the teleconference will be available one hour after the call ends on Wednesday, July 6 until July 20 at 11:59 p.m. EDT. For replay, interested parties should dial [phone] (domestic) or [phone] (outside the U.S. or Canada). The conference ID number for the instant replay is '7693645'.

In addition, a replay of the teleconference will be archived on the Fitch Ratings web site for three months. Interested parties can find the appropriate link at the 'Teleconference and Online Events' link, which is located under the heading 'Resource Library.'

Fitch's rating definitions are available on the agency's public web site, www.fitchratings.com. Published ratings, criteria and methodologies, and relevant policies and procedures are also available from this site, at all times. This document will remain on the public site for seven days.