Huntington Fixed Income Securities Fund Named Lipper Leader

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Jan. 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Huntington Fixed Income Securities Fund Trust Shares, managed by Kirk Mentzer, was recognized by Lipper, Inc. as a Lipper Leader. Rated amongst its peers in the Intermediate Investment Grade Debt Fund, the Huntington Fixed Income Securities Fund was recognized as a Lipper Leader in the Total Return, Consistent Return and Tax Efficiency categories as of 12/31/2008 out of 467, 457 and 467 funds, respectively.

Being recognized as a Lipper Leader is an important accomplishment. Lipper's evaluation system only recognizes the top 20% of all funds in each category.

The Huntington Fixed Income Securities Fund, with assets over $180 million as of December 31, 2008, pursues high current income and invests in investment grade quality corporate bonds, U.S. treasuries and government agencies with an average portfolio maturity of 10 years or less. This fund is suitable for investors who want to diversify their investment portfolio and balance the higher risks associated with stocks with a broad investment in bonds that offers a moderate level of risk.

The Huntington Fixed Income Securities Fund is a part of the $4.5 billion Huntington Funds family, managed by Huntington Asset Advisors, Inc. Huntington Funds consists of 11 stock, 6 bond, and 4 money market funds.

For more complete information about the Huntington Funds, call 1-800-253- 0412, or visit www.huntingtonfunds.com for a prospectus. Investors should consider the fund's investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses carefully before they invest. Information about these and other important subjects is in the fund's prospectus, which should be read carefully before investing.

Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

Bond prices are sensitive to changes in interest rates and a rise in interest rates can cause a decline in their prices.

Footnotes:

Lipper Leaders measures analyze past fund performance, and investors should remember that past performance is no guarantee of future results. Lipper Leaders' status is calculated monthly using data available at the time of calculation; Lipper undertakes no responsibility for updating the calculations more frequently than monthly to incorporate more current data. For more information, please email LipperLeaders@lipper.reuters.com

Lipper ratings for Total Return reflect funds' historical total return performance relative to peers as of 12/31/08. The ratings are subject to change every month and are based on an equal-weighted average of percentile ranks for the Total Return metrics over three-, five-, and ten-year periods (if applicable). The highest 20% of funds in each peer group are named Lipper Leader or a score of 5 for Total Return, the next 20% receive a score of 4, the middle 20% are scored 3, the next 20% are scored 2, and the lowest 20% are scored 1. Huntington Fixed Income Securities Fund Trust Shares, in Lipper's Total Return classification, received the following ratings for the 3-, 5- and 10-year periods respectively: 5, 5, and 4 out of 467, 394 and 199 funds.

Lipper ratings for Consistent Return reflect funds' historical returns as of 12/31/2008. The ratings are subject to change every month and are based on an equal-weighted average of percentile ranks for the Preservation metric over three-, five-, and 10-year periods (if applicable). The highest 20% of funds in each peer group are named Lipper Leader or a score of 5 for Consistent Return, the next 20% receive a score of 4, the middle 20% are scored 3, the next 20% are scored 2, and the lowest 20% are scored 1. Huntington Fixed Income Securities Fund Trust Shares in Lipper's Consistent Return classification received the following ratings for the three-, five- and 10- year periods, respectively: 5, 5, and 4 out of 454, 385 and 192 funds.

Lipper ratings for Tax Efficiency Return reflect funds' historical returns as of 12/31/2008. The ratings are subject to change every month and are based on an equal-weighted average of percentile ranks for the Tax Efficiency metric over three-, five-, and 10-year periods (if applicable). The highest 20% of funds in each peer group are named Lipper Leader or a score of 5 for Tax Efficiency, the next 20% receive a score of 4, the middle 20% are scored 3, the next 20% are scored 2, and the lowest 20% are scored 1. Huntington Fixed Income Securities Fund Trust Shares in Lipper's Tax Efficiency classification received the following ratings for the three-, five- and 10-year periods, respectively: 5, 4, and 4 out of 467, 394 and 199 funds.

Edgewood Services, Inc., is the distributor of the funds, and is not affiliated with The Huntington National Bank. Huntington Asset Advisors, Inc. is the Investment Advisor of Huntington Funds.

Diversification does not assure a profit nor protect against loss.

Not A Deposit - Not FDIC Insured - Not Insured By Any Government Agency - No

Bank Guarantee - May Lose Value

SOURCE Huntington Bancshares Incorporated

Released January 27, 2009