We believe the prospect of extraordinary government support for Finnish banks is now uncertain in view of the country's well-advanced and effective resolution regime. We are therefore removing the one notch of uplift for government support that we had previously incorporated in the long-term counterparty credit ratings on Aktia Bank PLC. We consider that Aktia Bank is unlikely to maintain its additional loss-absorbing capacity (ALAC) above our 4.25% threshold within a four-year projection period. We have also recognized a strengthening in Aktia Bank's intrinsic creditworthiness and changed our capital and earnings assessment to "very strong" from "strong" leading to a stand-alone credit profile (SACP) of 'a-'. Consequently, we are affirming the long- and short-term counterparty credit ratings on Aktia Bank
