Press Release

DBRS Issues Corporate and Structured Finance Transition and Default Studies

ABCP, Auto, RMBS
March 31, 2009

DBRS has today issued its 2008 Rating Transition and Default Studies for both the Corporate and the Structured Finance areas. The Corporate study is the fifth annual update, initially issued in April 2005. In the case of Structured Finance, this is the third DBRS rating transition and the first default study. Both studies demonstrate a positive relationship between the quality and stability of DBRS credit ratings, and provide transition performance data for a variety of time horizons.

The rating transitions presented in the Structured Finance study represent securities issued primarily in Canada and the United States and, to a lesser degree, Europe, within the following sectors: asset-backed securities (ABS), commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS), residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) and medium-term notes issued by asset-backed commercial paper (ABCP) conduits. For the Corporate area, detail is provided for the individual areas of industrials, financial institutions, public finance, insurance companies and sovereign credit performance.

DBRS is a full-service credit rating agency established in 1976. Privately owned and independent, DBRS offers in-depth credit analysis of corporate, financial institutions and government issues in North America, Europe, Asia and Latin America. DBRS’s extensive coverage of structured finance and securitization has solidified its standing as a leading provider of comprehensive, in-depth credit analysis.