MILAN (Standard&Poor's) March 18, 2009--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that it has lowered its long-term counterparty credit ratings on UniCredit SpA to 'A' from 'A+'. At the same time, it has affirmed its 'A-1' short-term rating. The outlook is stable. At the same time, we have downgraded several related entities of the UniCredit group (see the Ratings List below). "The downgrade reflects our expectation that worsening macroeconomic conditions in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) as well as in Western Europe will lead to high asset quality and profitability pressures for UniCredit in 2009 and 2010," said Standard&Poor's credit analyst Renato Panichi. The current ratings on UniCredit reflect a balancing of our expectation of a
