Nationwide Building Society Outlook To Positive On Improving Bail-In Buffer; 'A/A-1' Ratings Affirmed

On Feb. 28, 2018, Nationwide announced the tender of £3.25 billion of senior unsecured debt. It also announced a related refinancing through its inaugural issuance of contractual senior nonpreferred notes in U.S. dollars and euros. If successfully completed, the issuance of new bail-in instruments would have a positive impact on our assessment of Nationwide's additional loss-absorbing capacity (ALAC) buffer, which we project would exceed 8% of S&P Global Ratings risk-weighted assets over our 18-24 month forecast horizon. We are therefore revising our outlook on Nationwide to positive from stable, and affirming our 'A/A-1' long- and short-term ratings. We are also assigning a 'BBB+' issue rating to the senior nonpreferred notes, one notch below the issuer's stand-alone credit profile, reflecting contractual

...+ On Feb. 28, 2018, Nationwide announced the tender of ú3.25 billion of senior unsecured debt. It also announced a related refinancing through its inaugural issuance of contractual senior nonpreferred notes in U.S. dollars and euros. + If successfully completed, the issuance of new bail-in instruments would have a positive impact on our assessment of Nationwide's additional loss-absorbing capacity (ALAC) buffer, which we project would exceed 8% of S&P Global Ratings risk-weighted assets over our 18-24 month forecast horizon. + We are therefore revising our outlook on Nationwide to positive from stable, and affirming our 'A/A-1' long- and short-term ratings. + We are also assigning a '###+' issue rating to the senior nonpreferred notes, one notch below the issuer's stand-alone credit profile, reflecting contractual subordination to higher-ranking senior notes. + The positive outlook indicates that we could incorporate an additional notch of ALAC support and therefore raise our rating on...

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