We expect that Synchrony Financial's risk-adjusted capital will continue to decline in 2018, as it acquires PayPal Holdings Inc.'s receivables portfolio and returns capital to shareholders. Despite this decline, we expect Synchrony's regulatory capital ratios will remain peer leading, which supports our current ratings on the company. In addition, certain structural features of Synchrony's contracts with its cardholders and retail partners reduce risk, in our view. We are affirming our ratings on Synchrony Financial and its bank subsidiary, Synchrony Bank, at 'BBB-' and 'BBB', respectively. The stable outlook reflects our expectations that Synchrony will maintain robust regulatory capitalization over our two-year forecast horizon. On May 17, 2018, S&P Global Ratings affirmed its issuer credit rating on Synchrony Financial at 'BBB-'
