Wainwright Bank Named One Of The World's Top 20 Sustainable Stocks

Companies chosen for environmental and financial strength

Boston, MA, July 18, 2003 - SustainableBusiness.com has announced the 2003 SB20 list, The World's Top Sustainable Stocks, which this year includes Wainwright Bank & Trust Company (NASDAQ: WAIN) of Boston.

The list is presented in The Progressive Investor newsletter, published by SustainableBusiness.com, which tracks the emerging marketplace of environmentally committed publicly traded companies.

To choose the 20 companies that make up the list, SustainableBusiness.com asked five leading social/environmental investment advisors to recommend companies that stand out as the world leaders in terms of both sustainability and financial strength.

"Our goal is to create a list that showcases the top companies leading the way to a sustainable society," says Rona Fried, Ph.D., SustainableBusiness.com CEO and Editor of The Progressive Investor. "Wainwright Bank is on the list because it shows exceptional leadership in its explicit commitment to address the ecological crisis as it relates to the banking industry."

Empirical research demonstrates companies that outperform on environmental issues outperform financially as well. Strong environmental performance equates to better management overall, which translates into stronger earnings and greater shareholder value.

Wainwright Bank's revenue grew by 25.5% in 2002 over 2001 and its stock price increased by 29.3% over the same period.

"We are honored to have our stock recommended worldwide to the rapidly growing Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) community," says Jan Miller, President and CEO of Wainwright Bank. In the U.S. alone, investments in socially screened portfolios and mutual funds climbed from $1.49 trillion to $2.01 trillion between 2000 and 2001.

Founded in 1987, Wainwright Bank is a socially responsible commercial bank with assets of $590 million primarily serving neighborhoods in Boston, Cambridge, Watertown and Somerville. Nearly 40% of the Bank's commercial loan portfolio is dedicated to community development initiatives including affordable housing, homeless shelters, HIV/AIDS services, community health centers, and environmental protection to name a few. Within the last decade, Wainwright has provided loan commitments of over $300 million to these and other community development projects.

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