Swedbank Outlook Revised To Stable From Negative On Improved Business Position; Ratings Affirmed At 'A+/A-1'

In our view, Sweden-based Swedbank AB has worked to deliver high and recurrent revenue streams with a strong focus on cost efficiency, capitalizing on its market-leading position in Sweden's retail banking sector. Over the last few years, it has shown superior efficiency and earnings metrics compared with peers domestically and internationally. We are revising Swedbank's stand-alone credit profile to 'a+' from 'a' to reflect its improved business position, but we also apply a negative transition notch, which takes into account the likelihood of diminishing extraordinary government support available to senior unsecured bondholders by end-2015. We are therefore revising our outlook on Swedbank to stable from negative and affirming our 'A+/A-1' long- and short-term counterparty credit ratings. The stable outlook reflects

...+ In our view, Sweden-based Swedbank AB has worked to deliver high and recurrent revenue streams with a strong focus on cost efficiency, capitalizing on its market-leading position in Sweden's retail banking sector. + Over the last few years, it has shown superior efficiency and earnings metrics compared with peers domestically and internationally. + We are revising Swedbank's stand-alone credit profile to 'a+' from 'a' to reflect its improved business position, but we also apply a negative transition notch, which takes into account the likelihood of diminishing extraordinary government support available to senior unsecured bondholders by end-2015. + We are therefore revising our outlook on Swedbank to stable from negative and affirming our 'A+/A-1' long- and short-term counterparty credit ratings. + The stable outlook reflects that we are likely to remove both the downward transitional notch and our one notch of government support by year-end 2015 (thereby keeping the ratings at their...

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