Standard&Poor's affirmed its double-'A'-plus long-term and 'A-1'-plus short-term counterparty credit and certificate of deposit ratings on Luxembourg-based Clearstream Banking S.A. (CBL) on June 26, 2002. The outlook is stable. At the same time, the long-term ratings were removed from CreditWatch, where they had been placed on Dec. 10, 2001. The ratings on CBL continue to reflect its extremely low-risk profile and its significant role in the international financial markets. As CBL is an integral part of the transaction processing chain, the ratings also reflect the Clearstream group's core status within the Deutsche Börse AG group (DBAG; AA+/Stable/A-1+). Subsequent to the announcement that the Clearstream group would enter into exclusive takeover negotiations with DBAG, the ratings on CBL were
