...- Despite governments' measures to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, European economies, including Slovenia and others to which Nova Ljubljanska Banka D.D. (NLB) is exposed, face an unprecedented challenge. - Under our base case of an economic recovery starting in late 2020 and into 2021, we expect NLB's earnings, asset quality, and capitalization to come under greater pressure than previously envisaged, but to remain resilient. We consider that the difficult conditions also materially increase financial risks for NLB's planned large-scale acquisition of Serbia-based Komercijalna banka a.d. (KB). - We are revising to negative from stable the outlook on Nova Ljubljanska Banka D.D. (NLB) and affirming the '###-/A-3' ratings. - The negative outlook on NLB indicates that NLB faces several downside risks in Slovenia and its core strategic southeastern Europe (SEE) markets over the next 24 months. In addition, NLB's potential large-scale acquisition of KB adds material additional financial risk...
