Pandemic support measures deployed by the U.K. government and Bank of England have underpinned the domestic economy and mortgage market. We revised our outlook on U.K.-based Nationwide Building Society (Nationwide) to positive from stable. We affirmed our long-term issuer credit rating and issue ratings on Nationwide because its robust balance sheet and cushion of bail-in-able instruments are significant mitigants to the residual downside risks associated with the fiscal support withdrawal and extended lockdown restrictions. The positive outlook reflects our view that Nationwide is well positioned to deliver improving profitability given modest credit losses, elevated but normalizing new business mortgage margins, and further cost reduction. As announced earlier today, on June 24, 2021, S&P Global Ratings revised its outlook on U.K.-based
