Wainwright Bank & Trust Company Repays Treasury's $22 Million Preferred Stock Investment Under The Capital Purchase Program

BOSTON, Nov. 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Wainwright Bank & Trust Company today announced that it repurchased effective today, the U.S. Treasury Department's $22 million preferred stock investment under the Treasury's Capital Purchase Program that was part of the broader TARP initiative.

Jan A. Miller, President and Chief Executive Officer said, "Last fall when the United States Department of Treasury announced the Capital Purchase Program for healthy banks, we were pleased to participate and received the Treasury investment in December, 2008. Unfortunately, shortly thereafter, media coverage mischaracterized it as a bailout and failed to differentiate between local community banks such as Wainwright Bank and giant financial institutions. Subsequent to the investment, the CPP rules were changed so significantly that the original purpose of the program was negatively impacted and our ability to effectively support our customers and run our business was limited. Therefore, our Board of Directors unanimously determined that it would be in the best interests of our customers, employees and shareholders to repay the CPP investment."

Wainwright Bank exceeded regulatory standards to be considered "well-capitalized" prior to participation in the Capital Purchase Program and will continue to be "well-capitalized" after repayment to the Treasury. The Bank repurchased all 22,000 shares of Fixed Rate Cumulative Perpetual Preferred Stock, Series D, with a liquidation value of $1,000 per share, issued on December 19, 2008. As part of this program, the Treasury was also issued warrants to purchase 390,071 shares of Wainwright Bank common stock with an initial exercise price of $8.46 per share. Now that the Bank has redeemed the preferred stock investment, it has the right to repurchase the warrants at a price to be determined through negotiations with the U.S. Treasury. The Bank intends to negotiate for the repurchase of the warrants. However, the repurchase price for the warrants will be subject to those negotiations and there can be no assurance that they will be repurchased. The Bank has no plans to raise additional capital at this time.

With $1 billion in assets and 12 branches throughout Greater Boston, Wainwright Bank is widely recognized as the country's leading socially progressive bank. It has committed over $700 million in loans to socially responsible development projects including affordable housing, environmental protection, HIV/AIDS services, homeless shelters, immigration services and more. The Bank was named the "ultimate high-purpose company" in a recently published book by award-winning author, Christine Arena, entitled "The High-Purpose Company: The Truly Responsible (and Highly Profitable) Firms That Are Changing Business Now".

This Press Release contains statements relating to future results of the Bank (including certain projections and business trends) that are considered "forward-looking statements" as defined in the Private Securities Legislation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those projected as a result of certain risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to changes in political and economic conditions, interest rate fluctuations, competitive product and pricing pressures within the Bank's market, bond market fluctuations, personal and corporate customers' bankruptcies, and inflation, as well as other risks and uncertainties.

James J. Barrett, Senior VP and Chief Financial Officer Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone] Website: http://www.wainwrightbank.com/

Wainwright Bank & Trust Company

CONTACT: James J. Barrett, Senior VP and Chief Financial Officer of
Wainwright Bank & Trust Company, [phone], or Fax, [phone]

Web Site: http://www.wainwrightbank.com/