Pittsburgh Law Office of Alfred G. Yates Jr., PC Announces Class Action Suit MBNA Corp. - KRB

Business Wire, May 16, 2005

PITTSBURGH -- Notice is hereby given by the Law Office of Alfred G. Yates Jr., PC that a class action lawsuit has been commenced on behalf of purchasers of the securities of MBNA Corp. ("MBNA" or the "Company") (NYSE:KRB) between January 20, 2005 and April 21, 2005 (the "Class Period") seeking to pursue remedies under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act").

If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than July 5, 2005. If you wish to discuss this action or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights or interests, please contact plaintiff's counsel, Alfred G. Yates, Jr. at 1-800-391-5164 or via e-mail at yateslaw@aol.com. Any member of the purported class may move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff through counsel of their choice, or may choose to do nothing and remain an absent class member.

The action, numbered 05cv4725(KMK), is pending in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York against defendants MBNA, Bruce L. Hammonds (President and CEO), Kenneth A. Vecchione (CFO), Richard K. Struthers, Charles C. Krulak, John R. Cohran, III, Michael G. Rhodes, Lance L. Weaver, and John W. Scheflen.

The complaint alleges that defendants projected annual income growth of 10% and continued to make this projection during the Class Period. In the weeks following the projection, the Company's top officers and directors sold more than $75 million worth of their own shares. The complaint alleges that instead of truthfully disclosing during the Class Period that MBNA's business was not as healthy as represented, defendants caused MBNA to falsely represent the strength of its growth in new loans, the decrease in delinquency rates, the decrease in loan loss rates, its ability to wean its sales model off teaser no-interest promotions, the value of its interest-only securitization strips and its forecasted earnings. On April 21, 2005, defendants disclosed that MBNA had earned only $0.02 in Q1 2005 -- a 94% decline from the $0.59 per share it reported in Q4 2004 -- and that it was guiding 2005 EPS growth down to "significantly below" its prior 10% growth estimate. Following the Company's April 21, 2005 disclosure, the Company's stock price plummeted from its closing price of $23.11 per share on the close of April 20, 2005 to below $19 per share on extremely high trading volume of 51 million shares.