ESP�RITO SANTO FINANCIAL GROUP S.A. ANNOUNCES RATINGS ASSIGNED BY FITCH RATINGS
AND 2002 RESULTS OF ITS FRENCH AND SWISS SUBSIDIARIES

9 April 2003

Esp�rito Santo Financial Group S.A. (NYSE and Euronext Lisbon: ESF) today made
the following announcements:

Fitch Ratings

Fitch Ratings has started recently to assign ratings to ESFG; in a press
release dated 13th March, Fitch Ratings assigned A- long term and F2 short term
and "5" support ratings. The long term rating outlook is stable.

Banque Esp�rito Santo et de la V�n�tie

During the course of 2002, Banque Esp�rito Santo et de la V�n�tie ("Old BESV")
merged with Via Banque, with the new merged entity keeping the name of Banque
Esp�rito Santo et de la V�n�tie ("New BESV"). New BESV's structure and
activities result from a major reorganization of the business profile of each
of the two merged entities as well as substantial changes in personnel.
Following the merger in mid April 2002, New BESV's business policies in 2002
centred on implementing an active programme of business development in the
commercial banking area. Structured financing was particularly active, with New
BESV participating actively in a large number of such financings in the French
market, namely in the acquisition of the Outinord group (a leader in equipment
for construction and public works) by the investment fund Siparex et Spef LBO.

At the end of 2002, New BESV's total assets and loan portfolio increased 34.2%
and 206.4% respectively. New BESV's total income in 2002 was 119.1% over the
corresponding figure for Old BESV in 2001, whilst operational costs at New BESV
in 2002 were only 78.1% over those of Old BESV in 2001. New BESV's gross
profits in 2002 reached 7.4 million Euros, corresponding to an increase of
339.0% over Old BESV's gross profits in 2001. However, New BESV's net profits
reached only 0.7 million Euros in 2002. The difference is accounted for by
provisions, net extraordinary items (including restructuring costs) and
taxation.

New BESV's capital ratio was 11.9% at end 2002 and its cost to income ratio was
68.6%, below the average for the French banking system of 69.9% (Old BESV's
cost to income ratio was 84.3% in 2001).

Compagnie Bancaire Esp�rito Santo

In 2002, profits at Compagnie Bancaire Esp�rito Santo, ESFG's private banking
operation located in Lausanne, Switzerland reached 9.1 million CHF (6.3 million
Euros) corresponding to a decline of approximately 2.0% against the results of
the previous year. This slight decline resulted from the decrease in financial
income due to the general decline in interest rates and to the 12.6% increase
in costs (resulting mostly from a provision related to a new employee profit
sharing scheme) which were not fully compensated by the 10.1% increase in
commissions and the 23.0% growth in trading and foreign exchange revenues

Assets under management declined 7.2% in Swiss Franc terms, mostly due to the
devaluation of Euro and the US Dollar against the Swiss currency in the course
of the year.

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