News Release:

November 6, 2009

Alberta Venture names ATB Financial province’s Most Respected Corporation

Edmonton – Readers of Alberta Venture magazine have voted ATB Financial as Alberta’s Most Respected Corporation in the area of corporate social responsibility.

The magazine lauded ATB, the largest Alberta-based financial institution, for the numerous causes it supports, the partners it sponsors, and the Alberta stories it celebrates on its community-powered website, www.wearealberta.ca.

Venture’s writers focused on Amina Ofleh, a Somali-Canadian mother of six who lives in a Calgary home built through Habitat for Humanity with ATB’s $110,000 in donations and 1,600 hours of volunteer labour.

“Amina Ofleh is a wonderful story, and she characterizes ATB’s commitment to Alberta and the stories we’re celebrating through wearealberta.ca,” said Dave Mowat, ATB’s President and CEO. “ATB has a decades-long history of supporting Albertans. That hasn’t changed. What has changed is our eagerness to be even more engaged in the lives of Albertans, and to demonstrate that commitment in more creative and meaningful ways.”

Venture cited ATB’s Teddy for a Toonie campaign – which has raised $3 million for the Stollery and Alberta Children’s hospital foundations over its 10-year duration – and its new Olympic-year sponsorship of cross-country ski star Sara Renner as the sort of “ground-level” initiatives that define the financial institution’s community involvement.

Some 4,600 Venture readers chose ATB Financial in the corporate social responsibility category from a short list of three companies. Mowat said it was gratifying to be considered for the award alongside good corporate citizens like fellow finalists Nexen and the Running Room, and to be ultimately ranked so highly by Venture readers.

ATB continues to find interesting and creative ways to invest in Alberta communities, including the popular Untapped Alberta concert series for emerging Alberta musicians, which visited five Alberta towns and cities this fall.

ATB has also recently won several awards for workplace excellence. It has been named one of Canada’s 50 Best Employers by Report on Business Magazine, one of the 75 Best Workplaces in Canada by the Great Place to Work Institute, and one of Canada’s Top 100 Employers and Alberta’s Top 50 Employers by Mediacorp Canada Inc.

For further information please contact:

Shawn Ohler
Director of External and Media Relations
ATB Financial
(780) 913-8905 (cell); (780) 408-6529 (office)
e-mail: sohler@atb.com

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