MELBOURNE (Standard&Poor's) Dec. 18, 2001--Standard&Poor's today affirmed the counterparty credit ratings on four major Australian banks: National Australia Bank (NAB, double-'A'/Negative/'A-1+'); Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA, double-'A'-minus/Stable/'A-1+'); Westpac Banking Corp. (WBC, double-'A'-minus/Stable/'A-1+'); and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. (ANZ, double-'A'-minus/Stable/'A-1+'). The ratings outlook on NAB, however, is revised to negative from stable, and that on CBA is revised to stable from positive. The stable outlooks on WBC and ANZ are unchanged. "A weakening domestic and international economic environment, corporate lending concentrations, and the increased frequency of large corporate collapses have converged to heighten the risk profile of the Australian major banking sector," said Gavin Gunning, director, Financial Services Ratings. "We expect satisfactory performance from
