On Dec. 16, 2008, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services affirmed its 'BB-/B' counterparty credit and CD ratings on Banco G&T Continental S.A. (G&T Continental). The outlook is stable. At the same time, we affirmed our 'BBB-' survivability assessment on the bank. The bank's relatively low adjusted capitalization and double leverage, structural asset concentrations with low coverage of nonperforming assets (NPAs), and a dollarized balance sheet limit our ratings on G&T Continental. Our ratings reflect the bank's good market position in Guatemala, a stable and diversified deposit base, and improving financial performance. Although capitalization remains a rating weakness, the bank has taken some steps to strengthen adjusted capitalization. As of September 2008, the bank's adjusted total equity-to-assets ratio was close to
