Well-established local retail franchise in Finland. Strong projected capitalization underpinned by sound earnings capacity. Focus on low-risk collateralized lending to retail clients and small and midsize enterprises (SMEs). Concentration risk, due to focus on residential mortgage lending in Finland. Limited geographic, business, and earnings diversification. Reliance on wholesale funding market as covered bond issuer. Standard&Poor's Ratings Services' negative outlook on Finland-based Aktia Bank PLC indicates that we may downgrade the bank by year-end 2015 if we believe there is a greater likelihood that senior unsecured liabilities may incur losses if the bank fails. Specifically, we may lower the long-term counterparty credit rating by one notch if we consider that extraordinary government support is less predictable under the new
