On Dec. 19, 2008, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services maintained, on CreditWatch with positive implications, its 'A' long-term and 'A-1' short-term counterparty credit ratings on leading Belgian bank, Fortis Bank SA/NV, and its subsidiary, Fortis Banque Luxembourg S.A., where they had originally been placed on Oct. 6, 2008. At the same time, we changed the CreditWatch implications to developing on the 'A' long-term counterparty credit and insurer financial strength ratings on Fortis Insurance Belgium (FIB) from the original positive implications of Oct. 6, 2008. The CreditWatch update follows the Dec. 12, 2008, decision by the Brussels Court of Appeal to suspend the planned transaction among Fortis group, BNP Paribas, and the Belgian and Luxembourg governments decided over the Oct. 4-5
