Clearstream Banking S.A.

The stable outlooks on CBL and CBF reflect our view that Clearstream's intrinsic creditworthiness will remain robust over the next two years. We expect to continue assessing Clearstream as an insulated subgroup of DB1 and therefore would affirm the ratings on CBL and CBF even if we lowered our ratings on DB1 by one notch. The outlook also reflects our expectation that Clearstream will maintain strong capitalization, a very low risk profile, and sustain good core revenue and its strong domestic and international market shares as a central securities depository operator, despite a highly competitive environment and structural changes in the European securities industry. We could downgrade CBL and CBF if the above expectations are not met, most notably from

...Clearstream is central to the wider Deutsche Boerse AG group. Clearstream Banking S.A. (CBL) and Clearstream Banking AG (CBF) play a central role in the subgroup headed by Clearstream Holding AG (Clearstream) and the wider group headed by Deutsche Boerse AG (DB1), which owns Clearstream. The ratings are supported by our view of Clearstream's '##' group credit profile (GCP), which is underpinned by the group's crucial role in international financial markets, not least as an ICSD operator. Profitability is expected to remain under pressure in 2021 due to a lower contribution from net interest income, partially offset by growth in custody and settlement revenue. We expect the current low interest rate environment to persist in the near term although with some upside in the U.S., which will continue to impact net interest income for Clearstream. However, we expect steady CBL revenue and in turn profitability, due to improving custody and settlement revenue from an expanding base of assets under...

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