Fairfax Unveils Clean Internal Control Report

Canada-based Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. announced that its 2004 Annual Report includes a report by management concluding that the company’s internal control over financial reporting was effective as of Dec. 31, 2004, and an opinion by Fairfax’s independent auditors to the same effect.

Neither management’s report nor the auditors’ opinion identified any material weaknesses in internal controls over financial reporting.

As a non-U.S. company, Fairfax is not currently required under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act to undertake an assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting or to obtain its independent auditors’ opinion thereon.

Fairfax voluntarily elected to do so, two years ahead of its compliance deadline, in order to assess for itself the integrity and quality of its internal control over financial reporting and to provide its shareholders and debtholders with the greatest assurance of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting.

A copy of Fairfax’s 2004 Annual Report is available at www.fairfax.ca.