The ratings on Dutch bank LeasePlan Corporation N.V. primarily reflect its leading worldwide franchise in operational car leasing and fleet management, sound asset quality, relatively strong capitalization, and ongoing benefits derived from regulated status as a bank. Ratings are constrained by LeasePlan's limited business diversification; lower earnings prospects in a recessionary context, essentially due to elevated residual value costs; and its wholesale funding profile. The 'BBB+' long-term rating also factors in one notch of uplift for support from ultimate--and dominant in Standard&Poor's Ratings Services' view--shareholder, German carmaker Volkswagen AG (VW, A-/Negative/A-2). LeasePlan is a wholesale-funded bank operating worldwide in the car leasing and fleet management business. The current economic downturn is weighing, in our view, on the bank's
