On Aug. 23, 2002, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services assigned its single-'A'-minus long-term and 'A-2' short-term counterparty credit ratings to Dutch banking group F. van Lanschot Bankiers N.V. (Van Lanschot). The outlook is positive. The ratings reflect Van Lanschot's conservative management, good asset quality, and stable and solid earnings and capitalization. Van Lanschot provides lending, asset management, and other financial services to high net-worth individuals, midsize (largely family-owned) businesses, and institutional investors. The franchise is long-established, especially in the family business sector. With total assets of €10.7 billion at year-end 2001, Van Lanschot is the sixth-largest banking group in the Netherlands. Its activities are primarily Netherlands-based (33 branches nationwide), although there are significant operations in Belgium (eight branches focused on
