Sound retail banking franchise in Spain. Better credit risk profile than domestic peers. Balanced funding structure and contained reliance on wholesale financing. Concentration in Spain. Still-poor operating performance. Significant exposure to market risk through its large equity portfolio. Standard&Poor's Ratings Services' outlook on Spain-based Caixabank is positive, reflecting the possibility that we could raise our ratings on Caixabank over the next 12-18 months if the positive economic risk trend that we see for Spanish banks results in an improvement of our economic risk assessment for Spain, and if the bank proves able to maintain adequate earnings generation and enhance its capital above our current expectations. Specifically, a positive rating action could occur if we were to improve our
