LONDON (Standard&Poor's) April 13, 2011--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that it has placed the 'BBB-/A-3' foreign currency and 'BBB/A-3' local currency sovereign credit ratings on the Republic of Iceland on CreditWatch with negative implications. The CreditWatch placement comes after the Icelandic electorate rejected for a second time the government-negotiated Icesave agreement with the U.K. and the Netherlands, at a referendum on April 9, 2011. We understand that under this agreement the Icelandic state would guarantee that the Depositors' and Investors' Guarantee Fund of Iceland would repay, to the U.K. and Netherlands, the costs these sovereigns incurred when paying deposit guarantees (up to the minimum guaranteed amount of €20,000 per depositor) to depositors in U.K. and Netherlands
