DBRS Assigns New Rating of AAA to State Street Bank & Tr’s FDIC Guaranteed Issuance of Senior Notes

DBRS has today assigned a new rating of AAA to State Street Bank and Trust’s $2.45 billion issuance of senior unsecured notes in two tranches; the $1 billion of 1.85% senior notes due March 15, 2011 and the $1.45 billion Three Month LIBOR senior notes due September 15, 2011 (collectively, the Notes). The AAA ratings are based on the explicit guarantee provided by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program (TLGP), which is backed by the full faith and credit of the United States. Under the TLGP, the FDIC guarantees payment of qualifying debt issued by eligible U.S. bank holding companies and bank subsidiaries, such as State Street Bank and Trust.

The AAA rating reflects DBRS’s opinion as to the guarantor’s ability to honor the guarantee as determined by internal assessment of the sovereign. All other debt ratings, including State Street Bank and Trust’s AA Deposits & Senior Debt rating, remain at their current levels. All long-term non-guaranteed ratings remain on Negative Trend where they were placed on January 21, 2009.

Note:
All figures are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted.

The applicable methodology is Rating Banks and Bank Holding Companies Operating in the United States which can be found on our website under Methodologies.

This is a Corporate (Financial Institutions) rating.