DBRS Places Belfius Bank’s A (high) Rating Under Review With Negative Implications

DBRS, Inc (DBRS) has today placed the ratings of Belfius Bank SA (the Bank) including its A (high) Senior Long-Term Debt and Deposit ratings and its R-1 (middle) Short-Term Debt and Deposits rating Under Review With Negative Implications. Concurrently, the A ratings for Belfius Bank’s Subordinated Debt, as well as the A (low) ratings on the Bank’s Junior Subordinated Debt, are also placed Under Review.

These rating actions follow DBRS’s announcement that it has removed the rating floor for critically important banking organisations (CIBs) in Belgium (see “DBRS Removes Rating Floors in Belgium”, published October 11, 2013 for further details). The review of Belfius Bank’s ratings will assess the impact of the removal of the rating floor, as well as taking into account the latest developments at Belfius Bank.

DBRS removed the floor rating of A (high) for Belgium on October 11, 2013 following an assessment of the applicability of the rating floor for CIBs in Belgium. Under the floor rating, Belfius Bank’s A (high) Long-Term Debt and Deposit ratings had benefited from three notches of uplift from its Intrinsic Assessment of BBB (high).

Notes:
All figures are in Euros (EUR) unless otherwise noted.

The principal methodology applicable is: the Global Methodology for Rating Banks and Banking Organizations. Other methodologies used include the DBRS Criteria – Intrinsic and Support Assessments, and DBRS Criteria: Rating Bank Capital Securities - Subordinated, Hybrids & Preferred Securities. The rating methodologies and criteria used in the analysis of this transaction can be found at: http://www.dbrs.com/about/methodologies.

The sources of information used for this rating include company reports and SNL Financial. DBRS considers the information available to it for the purposes of providing this rating was of satisfactory quality.

This rating is endorsed by DBRS Ratings Limited for use in the European Union.

Lead Analyst: Roger Lister
Rating Committee Chair: Alan G. Reid
Initial Rating Date: December 5, 2007
Most Recent Rating Update: June 1, 2012

For additional information on this rating, please refer to the linking document located at: http://www.dbrs.com/research/236983/banks-and-banking-organisations-linking-document.pdf

Information regarding DBRS ratings, including definitions, policies and methodologies are available on www.dbrs.com.