UNIZ Unizan Financial (MM)

Unizan Bank Receives the Prestigious Community Impact Award for its SCOPP IDA Asset Management Program CANTON, Ohio, Nov. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Unizan Bank, National Association is honored to announce the organization's Stark County Out of Poverty Partnership (SCOPP) IDA Asset Management Program has received the CRA and Fair Lending Colloquium's annual Community Impact Award for banks with assets over $1.5 billion. Unizan will accept this nationally recognized award on November 15, 2004 from a distinguished panel of bankers and consultants at the 2004 CRA & Fair Lending Colloquium in Orlando, Florida. The CRA & Fair Lending Colloquium is the premier compliance industry event, where over 350 compliance professionals and regulatory experts gather to learn compliance strategies to help actualize their goals and manage their resources. The purpose of the Community Impact Award is threefold: to honor dedicated compliance professionals and their institutions, to encourage innovative community lending, and to provide the financial industry with examples of programs that work. Any financial institution in the United States is eligible, including banks, mortgage companies, and credit unions. One award is given to a program from an institution with $1.5 billion or greater in assets, and one to a program from an institution with less than $1.5 billion in assets. Unizan designed its IDA Asset Management Program in cooperation with SCOPP as a way to increase savings and investments for lower income families. This program couples economic literacy training with a financial incentive to save for the acquisition of an asset. Program participants learn about budgeting, savings and investments, banking and credit. While they receive this training, they are also saving for one of the following life goals: a down payment on a home, small business capital or a college education. For every $1 they save, SCOPP provides $4 in matching funds. "We are pleased the SCOPP IDA Asset Management Program received this recognition and accepting the Community Impact Award is quite a tribute to this Program's purpose," said Monica Graves, Unizan Bank's assistant vice president-CRA. "It is even more rewarding to help our neighbors afford major life goals like a better home, a new business or a college degree. Through the IDA program, we are helping the working poor and welfare recipients to help themselves," Graves concluded. About Unizan Unizan Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:UNIZ), a $2.6 billion holding company, is a financial services organization headquartered in Canton, Ohio. The company operates 43 full-service retail financial centers in five metropolitan markets in Ohio -- Canton, Columbus, Dayton, Newark and Zanesville. Through Unizan Financial Corp.'s subsidiaries, Unizan Bank, National Association; Unizan Financial Services Group, National Association; Unizan Banc Financial Services, Inc.; and Unizan Financial Advisors, Inc., the company offers its client base corporate and retail banking, Internet banking and wealth management products and services. Additionally, the company operates government guaranteed loan programs through its business lending centers in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus and Dayton, Ohio; Detroit, Michigan; Mt. Arlington, New Jersey and Indianapolis, Indiana. For more information on Unizan Financial Corp. and its subsidiaries, visit the company on the Web at http://www.unizan.com/ . DATASOURCE: Unizan Bank, National Association CONTACT: Sandy K. Upperman, Vice President, Corporate Communications of Unizan Bank, National Association, +1-330-438-4858, or Web site: http://www.unizanbank.com/

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