Good market position within Puerto Rico Strong capital ratios Improving, albeit modest, core profitability Persistently high level of nonperforming assets (NPAs) and potential problem assets High geographic concentration in a weak Puerto Rico economy Reliance on brokered deposits and repurchase agreements remains much higher than most U.S. regional banks', though declining The stable outlook on FirstBank Puerto Rico (FBP) reflects S&P Global Ratings' view that the bank's strong capitalization would sufficiently absorb incremental credit losses that could result from the government's fiscal austerity measures. We expect the bank's risk-adjusted capital (RAC) ratio to remain near the high end of the 10%-15% range over the next 12-18 months, a level that corresponds to our strong capital and earnings assessment. The outlook
