Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: April 28, 2006
Contact: James Lide (U.S.) and Keith Allen (Europe)
E-mail: jlide@historyassociates.com and kallen@historyassociates.com
Telephone: (301) 279-9697 and +49 30 804 9752 5

HAI Completes Multinational Research on ABN AMRO Connections to Slavery, Findings Released

History Associates Incorporated (HAI) announces the public release of research findings regarding ABN AMRO Bank N.V. predecessors and connections to African slavery. In July 2005 LaSalle Bank Corporation, a U.S. subsidiary of ABN AMRO Bank N.V., engaged HAI as an independent consultant to complete this research. A joint effort of HAI's Rockville and newly established Berlin offices, this project involved research in ten countries, on three continents, and in six languages.

LaSalle Bank Corporation commissioned the research in response to a City of Chicago ordinance requiring all entities doing business with the City to disclose historic profits or investments in African slavery. International Division Director Dr. James Lide and Head of the Berlin Office Dr. Keith Allen, assisted by International Projects Coordinator Allison Carroll, collaborated to bring this major research effort to a successful conclusion.

HAI found no LaSalle Bank Corporation predecessor connections to African slavery in the United States. Examining 200 predecessors of ABN AMRO Bank N.V. founded before 1888, HAI determined that some had connections to African slavery, be it in the United States or elsewhere in the Americas.

LaSalle Bank Corporation is the largest bank holding company headquartered in Chicago with $114 billion in assets and subsidiaries in twenty-three states. LaSalle Bank Corporation is an indirect subsidiary of Netherlands-based ABN AMRO Bank N.V., one of the world's largest banks with total assets of EUR 880.8 billion and more than 3,000 locations in over sixty countries.

HAI provides business, government, and nonprofit clients with professional historical research, writing, and archives and records management services. Since March 2004 HAI has completed nearly a dozen research projects of this type, commissioned in response to the Chicago ordinance and similar ordinances across the United States. Among these completed projects is the extensive research done for JP Morgan Chase, which was released to the public in January 2005.

History Associates is a historical research company with proven capabilities in written, multimedia, website, and standing exhibit formats.

• Follow-up article appearing in the Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant, May 2, 2006

• Dutch radio program OVT feature on our research, aired May 14, 2006