LONDON (Standard&Poor's CreditWire) Aug. 24, 2000--Standard&Poor's today lowered its counterparty credit ratings of BHW Bausparkasse AG, Hameln to single-'A'-plus/'A-1' from double-'A'-minus/'A-1'-plus. The outlook is stable. The downgrade reflects delayed improvements in BHW Bausparkasse's bottomline profitability, a decline in capital strength, an intensified competitive environment, and weaker growth prospects for residential mortgage lending in general, thus limiting BHW Bausparkasse's growth potential. Standard&Poor's also believes that alternative investment and savings products (for example, mutual funds) will play a more dominant role among the German population in the future, especially in light of a necessary pension reform. In this context, the relative attractiveness of the Bauspar concept and thus BHW Bausparkasse's business could somewhat decline over coming
