PARIS (Standard & Poor's) Oct. 25, 2005--Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said today that it had assigned its 'A+' long-term and 'A-1' short-term counterparty credit ratings to AXA Bank Belgium SA, the wholly owned Belgian banking subsidiary of the AXA insurance group. The outlook is positive. "The ratings on AXA Bank Belgium reflect the bank's status as a core member of the AXA group," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Elisabeth Grandin. "Additional rating factors are the bank's successful commercial strategy and professional management, significant market share in the core mortgage lending activity, and strong asset quality." Offsetting these factors are the bank's limited size in the highly competitive Belgian market, modest profitability, exposure to market risk, and pressure on
