Clarify an article in China Times' section B1 is not in accordance with facts

2004-02-05

1.Name of the reporting media: China Times 2.Date of the report:2004/02/05 3.Content of the report: On February 5th, there was an article in China Times' section B1 headlined ” The merger between Fubon & SinoPac, pending on price negotiation and management positions.” It was reported that ”Cathay Financial Holdings has not yet given up the plan to acquire SinoPac. Cathay Financial Holding's Chairman, H.T. Tsai even had a private meeting with SinoPac's CEO, Paul Lo, to discuss the possibility of collaboration.” 4.Summary of the information provided by investors:N/A 5.Company's explanation of the reportage or provided information: The article is not in accordance with facts. We hereby make the announcement as follows: 1.Cathay Financial Holdings's Chairman, H.T. Tsai, never had any private meeting with SinoPac's CEO, Paul Lo, to discuss the possibility of collaboration. This article did not check with our company before it was published. 2.Regarding SinoPac's M&A plan, there has been rumors that our Chairman and Honorary Vice Chairman respectively have been in contacts with SinoPac's management with respect to M&A plans. However, it has been proven untrue. We sincerely would like to ask the media to clarify the facts before publishing any news. 3.We hereby declare: any rumor that was not checked with us is not believable. We would like to ask the investment community to be alert and do not make judgment upon untrue rumors. 6.Countermeasures:N/A 7.Any other matters that need to be specified:N/A