OLD KENT OFFERS MOST ADVANCED BANKING TECHNOLOGY IN THE INDUSTRY

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., April 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Old Kent has teamed up with industry leaders to provide the most technologically advanced systems available so that its customers can bank anytime, anywhere, Robert L. Sadler, President of Old Kent announced today.

"We recognize that our customers want banking on demand -- whether through branches, ATMs, the telephone or their personal computer. Old Kent is making a commitment to provide customers that access 24 hours a day, 365 days a year," said Sadler at a sneak preview and demonstration of the new on-line and electronic banking services.

"Our customers want choice based on their own comfort levels," said David L. Kerstein, Old Kent's Executive Vice President of Retail Banking. "It will be possible for a customer to do business with us in several ways at any given day or time -- and all those transactions will be immediately recorded and reflected on that customer's account records. So a customer could transfer funds via personal computer in the morning, pay bills via voice recognition, use a touch tone phone to get account balances, and stop by one of our banks -- either in person or via our virtual bank."

Joining Old Kent's traditional banking services will be its enhanced ActionBank electronic banking options, including:

-- Voice Recognition. New to the industry, voice recognition will allow customers to do their banking by phone as easily as if they were talking to a teller. The new service is expected to be available in early 1997 and can be activated from any touch tone phone.

-- Virtual Banking. Once security issues on the Internet are resolved, Old Kent is poised to bring their customers access to their virtual bank. The Old Kent site will have the look and feel of a real bank and, once on-line, ActionBank customers can conduct any type of banking at the Old Kent site -- including loan applications, stock purchases, and various teller transactions.

-- Home Banking. With a personal computer, a modem and Old Kent's software, ActionBank customers can access all of their accounts to do their banking -- paying bills, writing checks and transferring funds, etc. Account balances and transactions are available immediately.

-- Screen Phones. All ActionBank services will be available to those customers who use screen phones.

-- Enhanced ATMs. Standard ATM transactions will be enhanced to allow for a variety of new services, including making loan payments, printing mini deposit statements, buying postage stamps, etc.

Old Kent will launch its electronic banking services this summer with a pilot project specifically for Old Kent employees, and will roll out the service to customers beginning this fall.

Old Kent Financial Corporation (Nasdaq-NNM: OKEN), a regional bank holding company, is headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Its affiliated banks operate 188 full service branches in Michigan and 25 in Illinois. Old Kent had total assets of $12.2 billion as of March 31, 1996.

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/CONTACT: Lisa Smith of Old Kent Financial Corporation, 616-771-5261/

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CO: Old Kent Financial Corporation ST: Michigan IN: FIN CPR SU: PDT

DC -- NYF068 -- 4939 04/26/96 15:05 EDT