Huntington Mortgage Securities Fund Is Recognized and Awarded by Lipper

COLUMBUS, Ohio, May 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The nationally known fund rating service, Lipper, has awarded the Huntington Mortgage Securities Fund Trust Shares a 2006 Lipper Performance Achievement Certificate for the one- and five-year periods ending December 31, 2006, Huntington Bancshares Inc. announced today. For the one- and five-year periods the fund ranked 1 out of 78 funds and 1 out of 62 funds, respectively in the U.S. Mortgage Funds Category. Lipper Performance Achievement Certificates are awards to fund portfolios that ranked first in their investment objective/Lipper classification over various time periods. Awards are based on cumulative returns.

For the one-, five and ten-year periods ending March 31, 2007, the Huntington Mortgage Securities Fund Trust Shares ranked 10 out of 75 funds, 2 out of 63 funds and 4 out of 38 funds, respectively in the U.S. Mortgage Funds Category.

The Huntington VA Mortgage Securities Fund also received a 2006 Lipper Performance Achievement Certificate for the one-year period ending December 31, 2006, ranking 1 out of 15 funds in the U.S. Mortgage Funds (Variable Annuity) Category. For the one-year period ending March 31, 2007 the fund ranked 2 out of 15 funds.

The Lipper Fund Awards program spotlights funds and fund families that have excelled in delivering consistently strong risk-adjusted performance, relative to peers. For more information, including methodology, please visit http://www.lipperweb.com/research/fund_awards.asp.

For more complete information about Huntington Funds, please call 1-800-253-0412 for prospectuses. You should consider a fund's investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before you invest. Information about these and other important subjects is in the fund's prospectus, which you should read carefully before investing.

Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Lipper Awards do not take sales charges into account.

Trust shares are not available to all investors.

VA Fund Shares are available exclusively as a funding vehicle for life insurance companies writing variable life insurance policies and variable annuity contracts.

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

Investment in real estate investment trusts ("REITs") involves special risk associated with an investment in real estate, such as limited liquidity and interest rate risks.

                 * Not A Deposit    * Not FDIC Insured
    * Not Insured By Any Government Agency    * No Bank Guarantee
                           * May Lose Value

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

About Huntington

Huntington Bancshares Incorporated is a $35 billion regional bank holding company headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. Through its affiliated companies, Huntington has more than 141 years of serving the financial needs of its customers. Huntington provides innovative retail and commercial financial products and services through 375 regional banking offices in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and West Virginia. Huntington also offers retail and commercial financial services online at http://www.huntington.com; through its technologically advanced, 24-hour telephone bank; and through its network of over 1,000 ATMs. Selected financial service activities are also conducted in other states including: Dealer Sales offices in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Tennessee; Private Financial and Capital Markets Group offices in Florida; and Mortgage Banking offices in Maryland and New Jersey. International banking services are made available through the headquarters office in Columbus, a limited purpose office located in the Cayman Islands, and another located in Hong Kong.

SOURCE Huntington Bancshares Incorporated