On July 9, 2013, Standard&Poor's lowered its long-term rating on Italy to 'BBB' from 'BBB+'. The outlook on the long-term rating remains negative. As a result of the sovereign action, we are lowering to 'BBB' from 'BBB+' the long-term ratings on nine Italian banks, namely UniCredit SpA and its core subsidiary UniCredit Leasing, Intesa Sanpaolo and its core subsidiary Banca IMI, Banca Fideuram, Mediobanca, Cariparma, Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, and Istituto del Credito Sportivo. We anticipate the factors behind the sovereign rating action could have negative implications for our view of the economic and industry risks affecting the Italian banking industry, as well as some of the specific factors that we take into consideration when assessing Italian banks'
