The ratings on NIBC reflect its expertise in its niche corporate-banking franchise and our view of its adequate capitalization and improving performance, despite a track record of volatile profitability. The bank's heavy reliance on wholesale funding, which we view as a weakness, is somewhat mitigated by its conservative liquidity management and growing--albeit mostly internet-based--retail deposits. NIBC is a Netherlands-based corporate and merchant banking specialist, focused on mid-cap corporates in its core Dutch and German markets, and international lending to specific sectors. NIBC also originates residential mortgages in its two main core markets. NIBC Direct, the online retail deposit-gathering operation launched in The Netherlands and Germany over the past three years, had raised around €5.5 billion at end-June 2011, with a
