Hancock Holding Company And Whitney Holding Corporation Combining To Form The Preeminent Gulf South Financial Institution

The directors, executive officers, and certain other members of management and employees of Hancock are participants in the solicitation of proxies in favor of the merger from the shareholders of Hancock. Information about the directors and executive officers of Hancock is included in the proxy statement for its 2010 annual meeting of shareholders, which was filed with the SEC on February 17, 2010. Additional information regarding the interests of such participants will be included in the joint proxy statement/prospectus and the other relevant documents filed with the SEC when they become available.

"SAFE HARBOR" STATEMENT UNDER THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995:  

Congress passed the Private Securities Litigation Act of 1995 in an effort to encourage corporations to provide information about companies' anticipated future financial performance.  This act provides a safe harbor for such disclosure, which protects the companies from unwarranted litigation if actual results are different from management expectations.  This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, and reflects management's current views and estimates of future economic circumstances, industry conditions, company performance, and financial results.  These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of factors and uncertainties which could cause Hancock's, Whitney's or the combined company's actual results and experience to differ from the anticipated results and expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made and neither Hancock nor Whitney assumes any duty to update forward-looking statements. In addition to factors previously disclosed in Hancock's and Whitney's reports filed with the SEC and those identified elsewhere in this press release, the following factors among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from forward-looking statements or historical performance: the possibility that the proposed transaction does not close when expected or at all because required regulatory, shareholder or other approvals and other conditions to closing are not received or satisfied on a timely basis or at all; the terms of the proposed transaction may need to be modified to satisfy such approvals or conditions; the anticipated benefits from the proposed transaction such as it being accretive to earnings, expanding our geographic presence and synergies are not realized in the time frame anticipated or at all as a result of changes in general economic and market conditions, interest and exchange rates, monetary policy, laws and regulations (including changes to capital requirements) and their enforcement, and the degree of competition in the geographic and business areas in which the companies operate; the ability to promptly and effectively integrate the businesses of Whitney and Hancock; reputational risks and the reaction of the companies' customers to the transaction; diversion of management time on merger-related issues; changes in asset quality and credit risk; the inability to sustain revenue and earnings; changes in interest rates and capital markets; inflation; customer acceptance of our products and services; customer borrowing, repayment, investment and deposit practices; customer disintermediation; the introduction, withdrawal, success and timing of business initiatives; competitive conditions; and the impact, extent and timing of technological changes, capital management activities, and other actions of the Federal Reserve Board and federal and state banking regulators, and legislative and regulatory actions and reforms, including those associated with the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Acts.

CONTACT:  Hancock Holding Company
          Carl J. Chaney, President & Chief Executive Officer
          Michael M. Achary, EVP & Chief Financial Officer
          Paul D. Guichet, VP, Investor Relations Manager
          800.522.6542
          228.563.6559

          Whitney Holding Corporation
          Thomas L. Callicutt, Jr., SEVP & Chief Financial Officer
          Trisha Voltz Carlson, SVP, Investor Relations Manager
          504.299.5208

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