On May 6, 2009, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services revised its outlook on Germany-based Landesbank Hessen-Thueringen Girozentrale (Helaba) and on the 50 savings banks in Hesse-Thuringia, which together form the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe Hessen-Thueringen (SFHT), to negative from stable. At the same time, the 'A/A-1' long- and short-term counterparty credit ratings on all institutions were affirmed. These rating actions follow our review of all six rated German Landesbanks, including Helaba, and the SFHT savings banks, which own 85% in Helaba, to assess the potential impact of a sharply deteriorated economic environment on the banks' asset quality; the challenges they may face in terms of funding capacity and capital requirements, due to a fundamentally changing banking environment; and their short- to medium-term business
