Unizan Financial Corp. to Record Other-Than-Temporary Impairment in Fourth Quarter Relating to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Prefer

Unizan Financial Corp. to Record Other-Than-Temporary Impairment
in Fourth Quarter Relating to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Preferred Stock 


CANTON, Ohio, Jan. 24  /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Unizan Financial Corp.
(NASDAQ:UNIZ), the holding company for Unizan Bank, National Association,
announced today that it intends to record an other-than-temporary impairment
non-cash after-tax charge of $2.2 million, or $0.10 per diluted share, in the
quarter ending December 31, 2004, related to $10.5 million face value of
perpetual preferred stock issued by government sponsored entities, Fannie Mae
("FNMA") and Freddie Mac ("FHLMC"). The perpetual preferred stock issues are
investment grade securities (AA- by S&P, Aa3 by Moody's) that are held in the
Company's available-for-sale securities portfolio. Unizan has decided to record
this unrealized loss as an other-than-temporary impairment in accordance with
generally accepted accounting principles. Prior to this charge, the decline in
value of these securities was recorded as an unrealized mark-to-market loss on
securities available-for-sale and reflected as a reduction to equity through
other comprehensive income. Accordingly, the reclassification of the unrealized
after-tax loss to an other-than-temporary impairment non-cash charge will not
affect total shareholders' equity.

Unizan Financial Corp. expects to report fourth quarter and full year financial
results on Friday morning, February 18, 2005.

About Unizan

Unizan Financial Corp., a $2.7 billion holding company, is a financial services
organization headquartered in Canton, Ohio.  The company operates 42
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 niche businesses in 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 Financial Corp.



CONTACT:  Investors, Roger L. Mann, President and Chief Executive

Officer, [phone], or [phone], or  , or Media,

Sandy K. Upperman, Vice President, Corporate Communications, [phone],

or  , both of Unizan Financial Corp.



Web site:  http://www.unizan.com/



Company News On-Call:  http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/127633.html

Copyright