DBRS Assigns Goldman Sachs an SA2 Support Assessment, Ratings Unaffected

DBRS has today assigned a support assessment of SA2 to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (Goldman or the Company), which reflects DBRS’s designation of the Company as a critically important banking organization (CIB) in the United States. Today’s action has no effect on the current ratings of the Company or related entities. Goldman’s Issuer & Senior Debt rating remains at A (high). The trend on all long-term ratings remains Negative where they were placed on January 23, 2009. The trend on all Short-Term Instruments, rated R-1 (middle), remains Stable.

This action follows DBRS’s introduction of a floor rating and the designation of Goldman Sachs as one of eight CIBs that are now subject to the floor rating. In the United States, the floor rating for banks and their key operating businesses is A (high) and R-1 (middle); for bank holding companies (BHCs), it is “A” and R-1 (middle). The trend for the floor ratings is Stable. While DBRS has not previously ascribed any uplift to bank intrinsic assessments from U.S. government support, establishing the floor ratings reflects the escalation of support for certain large banking organizations that are critically important to the functioning of the U.S. financial markets and maintaining the flow of credit.

For more information on the introduction of the floor rating concept, please see the press release published earlier today entitled “DBRS Announces Introduction of Floor Ratings, a Refinement of the Approach to Intrinsic and Support Assessments,” which is available at www.dbrs.com.

Notes:
The applicable methodologies are Rating Securities Firms Operating in the United States, Rating Banks and Bank Holding Companies Operating in the United States and Enhanced Methodology for Bank Ratings – Intrinsic and Support Assessments, which can be found on our website under Methodologies.

This is a Corporate (Financial Institutions) rating.