News Reports Cause Confusion Between the Georgia-Based Company and Similarly-Named Organization in Washington WEST POINT, Ga., March 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- In an effort to eliminate confusion created by announcements made by other parties, Charter Financial Corporation (OTC:CHFN) (BULLETIN BOARD: CHFN) stated today that it is not the subject of an acquisition. Charter Financial said the company mentioned in the news is a state of Washington entity with a similar name. Charter Financial is headquartered in Georgia and has operations there and in Alabama. Several news organizations, most notably certain financial news websites, mistakenly assumed this company was the organization referred to in announcements made earlier today. The company is attempting to have news items regarding the transaction eliminated from pages referring to it. Robert L. Johnson, president and ceo said, "We have received a number of inquiries regarding this news item. We regret the confusion and any anxiety this situation has caused our shareholders. Although the announcement had nothing whatever to do with us, the similarity of our corporate name, combined with the automated nature of some news reporting organizations, caused the announcement to be mistakenly associated with us. "We wish to state clearly we are not being acquired and there has been no change in the status of shareholders' investments in Charter Financial Corporation," Johnson asserted. About Charter Financial Charter Financial Corporation is a savings and loan holding company and the parent company of CharterBank, a full-service community bank and a federal savings institution. Charter Financial Corporation and its subsidiary, CharterBank, are in a mutual holding company structure. Charter Financial owns 3.4 million shares of Freddie Mac common stock with a market value of $231.0 million. CharterBank is headquartered in West Point, Georgia, and operates nine full-service branches on the I-85 corridor from LaGrange, Georgia to Auburn, Alabama. CharterBank's deposits are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Forward-Looking Statements This release may contain "forward-looking statements" that may be identified by use of such words as "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "should," "planned," "estimated," and "potential." Examples of forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, estimates with respect to our financial condition and results of operation and business that are subject to various factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these estimates. These factors include but are not limited to general and local economic conditions; changes in interest rates, deposit flows, demand for mortgages and other loans, real estate values, and competition; changes in accounting principles, policies, or guidelines; changes in legislation or regulation; and other economic, competitive, governmental, regulatory, and technological factors affecting our operations, pricing, products, and services. Any or all forward-looking statements in this release and in any other public statements we make may turn out to be wrong. They can be affected by inaccurate assumptions we might make or known or unknown risks and uncertainties. Consequently, no forward-looking statements can be guaranteed. The Company disclaims any obligation to subsequently revise or update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of such statements or to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events. DATASOURCE: Charter Financial Corporation CONTACT: Robert L. Johnson, President & CEO, +1-706-645-1391, or , or Curt Kollar, CFO, +1-706-645-3237, or , both of Charter Financial Corporation

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