TORONTO (Standard & Poor's CreditWire) April 30, 2001--Standard & Poor's today announced its harmonized ratings on Laurentian Bank of Canada (see list below). The outlook is stable. On Oct. 31, 2000, Standard & Poor's and the Canadian Bond Ratings Service (CBRS) announced that they have combined operations in Canada. A process is underway to harmonize all ratings assigned by CBRS with the Standard & Poor's framework, which includes the translation of all ratings onto the Standard & Poor's ratings scale. The ratings announced today are expressed on Standard & Poor's global ratings scale. Going forward, all new debt issue ratings on Laurentian Bank will be based on the harmonized issuer credit ratings. Ratings harmonization announcements do not constitute upgrades or