Standard&Poor's lowered its long-term counterparty credit and senior unsecured debt ratings on Germany-based Bayerische Hypo- und Vereinsbank AG (HVB) on Feb. 21, 2002. The rating actions reflect Standard&Poor's belief that increasingly difficult industry and economic conditions will prevent HVB from achieving improved profitability levels in 2002, which, in Standard&Poor's view, was a precondition to avoid a downgrade (see press release "Bayerische Hypo- und Vereinsbank Rtgs Affirmed; Otlk Neg; WestHyp and WuerttHyp Under Review", published on Aug. 31, 2001, on RatingsDirect, Standard&Poor's Web-based credit analysis system). HVB's core profitability levels have been below those of similarly rated European institutions for some time due to the structural problems of the domestic banking industry. As
