Unipol Assicurazioni - Clarification as regards the observations on the Bank of Italy's notice about the PTO on BNL and summoning of the Board of Directors' Meeting

With reference to the notice by which on 10 January 2006 the Bank of Italy communicated to Unipol Assicurazioni and its holding Holmo that it did not find the conditions laid down by the applicable law to give the Unipol Group authorisation for acquiring control over BNL, it is hereby informed that the Company intends to submit its own observations on the decisions adopted by the aforesaid Authority, within the terms provided for by the current administrative proceedings.
The Board of Directors of Unipol Assicurazioni will be convened on 19 January 2006 in order to assess the contents of these observations, as well as to approve the guidelines that the Managing Directors may follow in undertaking the actions subsequent to the aforesaid decision by the Bank of Italy.