We believe that the Baltic economies of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia are about to emerge from their recent sharp economic correction. Accordingly, we expect Sweden-based Swedbank AB, which has operations in all three countries, to make significantly lower loan loss provisions in 2010 than in 2009. We are revising our outlook on Swedbank to stable from negative and affirming our 'A/A-1' long- and short-term counterparty credit ratings. The stable outlook reflects our view that Swedbank has now passed the most difficult phase in the cycle. On Feb. 23, 2010, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services revised its outlook on Sweden-based Swedbank AB to stable from negative. At the same time, we affirmed the 'A' long-term and 'A-1' short-term counterparty credit ratings,
