LONDON (Standard&Poor's) March 13, 2009--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that it revised its outlook on U.K. mortgage and savings provider Nationwide Building Society to negative from stable. At the same time, the 'A+/A-1' counterparty credit ratings were affirmed. "The outlook revision principally reflects our expectation that Nationwide's profitability will face growing pressure during the U.K. recession," said Standard&Poor's credit analyst Richard Barnes. Nationwide's activities are overwhelmingly focused on the U.K. Its loan portfolio has shown relative resilience to date, reflecting its bias toward prime residential mortgages (74% of customer lending at Sept. 30, 2008) and what we view as its relatively disciplined underwriting standards. However, with unemployment now rising significantly and house prices continuing
