The outlook on Cuscal Ltd. is negative. The outlook reflects our opinion that Cuscal's creditworthiness could weaken in the next two years due to: Downward pressure on the creditworthiness of the Commonwealth of Australia, which we reflect in the negative outlook on our local currency sovereign rating on Australia; and Downward pressure on the government's supportiveness toward Australia's banking sector. We see a one-in-three chance that we would lower our long-term issuer credit rating on Cuscal to 'A' in the next two years. We would expect to do so in either of the following two scenarios: we lower our long-term local currency sovereign credit rating on Australia to 'AA+' from 'AAA' (see "Australia Ratings Affirmed At 'AAA/A-1+'; Outlook Remains Negative,"
