Central position in the wider Clearstream group. Crucial role in international financial markets. Very low risk profile. Strong legal protection underpinning its role as a depository and custodian. High operational risk inherent in settlement and custody activities. Dynamic operating environment, requiring constant adaption to mitigate potential threats and leverage opportunities. Well-diversified membership with typically good creditworthiness. Strong risk-management controls and track record of very low losses arising from operational and credit risks. The stable outlook on CBL reflects our view that its subgroup's intrinsic creditworthiness will remain robust over the next two years. We expect to continue to assess CBL as an insulated subgroup of DBAG and therefore would affirm the ratings on CBL even if we lowered our ratings