LOS ANGELES—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Jan. 20, 2004—City National Bank,the second largest independent bank headquartered in California,announced today that its investment division, City National AssetManagement, is lowering its exposure to equities in client portfolios.

Following the markets remarkable comeback last year and ourexpectation that 2004 will provide more normalized returns, we will begradually — over the next several weeks — capturing profits inindividual stocks and returning portfolios to long-term strategictarget allocations, said Chief Investment Officer Richard Weiss.

This return to a neutral position with regard to stocks comes oneyear after the bank announced a 5 percent asset allocation shift inits client accounts toward equities — a move that benefited manyinvestors in 2003.

Although we continue to expect the domestic and global economiesto recover, we find that the stock market already has `priced in alot of that good news, Weiss said. Accordingly, equities are now atlevels that appear fair valued, discounting the favorable economicenvironment that currently exists.

Weiss noted that, while he expects equity prices to rise thisyear, double-digit returns are unlikely.

In fixed income portfolios, the bank remains somewhat defensivelypositioned in terms of maturity and interest rate risk, given thelikelihood of rising rates later this year.

About City National

City National Corporation (NYSE:CYN) is a financial servicescompany with $12.8 billion in total assets. Its wholly ownedsubsidiary, City National Bank, is the second largest independent bankheadquartered in California. As Californias Premier Private andBusiness Bank(R), City National provides banking, investment and trustservices through 54 offices, including 12 full-service regionalcenters, in Southern California, the San Francisco Bay Area and NewYork City.

For more information about City National, visit the companysWebsite at cnb.com.

Note to Editors: Richard A. Weiss, chief investment officer, CityNational Bank, is available for interviews about the banks shift awayfrom equities in its managed accounts, as well as the economicrecovery and other factors that will continue to influence investmentdecisions in 2004.

CONTACT: City National Bank Linda Mueller, 213-833-4719 linda.mueller@cnb.com SOURCE: City National Bank