Wainwright Bank Included In Launch of New NASDAQ Index

Boston, MA, December 8, 2003 - Wainwright Bank & Trust Company (NASDAQ symbol "WAIN") is included in today's launch of the America's Community Bankers NASDAQ Index.

Created jointly by America's Community Bankers, a national trade association for community banks, and NASDAQ, the world's largest electronic stock market, the new index will serve as a benchmark for community banking and focus investor attention on this often overlooked financial sector.

Bob Davis, executive vice president of ACB, said when back-tested the index outperformed the S&P in most of the past 15 years.

"ACB and NASDAQ developed this index as a yardstick for the capital market to use in measuring the performance of community bank stocks like Wainwright. There is a general perception that large banks and other indexes outperform community bank stocks, but now it will be easy to know for sure. We are excited to be included among other high-performing community banks," said Wainwright Bank President and CEO, Jan A. Miller.

Wainwright Bank's stock price gained by 29.3% in 2002 over 2001 and last week hit an all-time high of $13.59.

The index is initially comprised of approximately 550 banks traded on NASDAQ with a combined market capitalization of $160 billion and excludes the 50 largest banks in the United States. The smallest member bank has a market cap of $11 million and the largest $6.4 billion, with a median of $100 million within the index.

Founded in 1987, Wainwright Bank is a socially responsible commercial bank with assets of $600 million primarily serving neighborhoods in Boston, Cambridge, Watertown and Somerville. Nearly 40% of the bank's commercial lending portfolio is dedicated to community development initiatives including affordable housing, homeless shelters, HIV/AIDS services, community health centers, and environmental issues to name a few.

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