Takarekbank and the Hungarian savings cooperatives have demonstrated tougher resilience against the Hungarian recession than we previously anticipated. We are revising the outlook to stable from negative and affirming the 'BB/B' ratings. The stable outlook reflects our view of the bank's higher than anticipated pre-provisioning earnings that are helping cushion elevated credit losses. On March 19, 2010, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services revised to stable from negative the outlook on Hungary-based Magyar Takarékszövetkezeti Bank Rt. (Takarekbank; Bank of Hungarian Savings Cooperatives Co. Ltd.). The 'BB' long-term and 'B' short-term counterparty credit ratings were affirmed. The outlook revision primarily reflects our view that Takarekbank and the Hungarian savings cooperatives (SC) have a relatively robust financial profile, which has proved to be
