LONDON (Standard&Poor's) Sept. 29, 2008--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that it lowered its long- and short-term foreign currency sovereign credit ratings on the Republic of Iceland to 'A-/A-2' from 'A/A-1', and its local currency sovereign credit ratings to 'A+/A-1' from 'AA-/A-1+'. In addition, the long-term ratings were placed on CreditWatch with negative implications. Furthermore, the transfer and convertibility assessment on Iceland was lowered to 'AA-' from 'AA'. At the same time, Standard&Poor's also lowered its foreign currency ratings on Ibudalanasjodur (Housing Financing Fund), the government-owned enterprise for housing finance, to 'A-/A-2' from 'A/A-1', and its long-term local currency rating to 'A' from 'A+'. The short-term local currency rating of 'A-1' was affirmed. The long-term
