DBRS Downgrades Bank of Ireland’s Irish Guaranteed Debt to A (low), Trend Negative

DBRS Inc. (DBRS) today has downgraded the long-term ratings of the Irish Government Guaranteed instruments issued by The Governor and Company of the Bank of Ireland (Bank of Ireland or the Group) to A (low) from “A”. The ratings of the Short-Term Deposits and Short-Term Debt Guaranteed by the Irish Government are unaffected at R-1 (low). The trend on the long-term ratings is Negative, while the trend on the short-term ratings is Stable.

This rating action follows DBRS’s downgrade of the Republic of Ireland to A (low) with a Negative trend. Today’s rating action does not impact the other ratings of Bank of Ireland, including its Non-Guaranteed Long-Term Deposits and Non-Guaranteed Long-Term Debt ratings, which remain at BBB (high) with a Negative trend.

Notes:
All figures are in EUR unless otherwise noted.

For further information related to DBRS’s rating action on the Republic of Ireland, please see the related press release under Related Research.

The principal applicable methodology is the Global Methodology for Rating Banks and Banking Organisations. Other methodologies used include the Enhanced Methodology for Bank Ratings – Intrinsic and Support Assessments. Both can be found on the DBRS website under Methodologies.

The sources of information used for this rating include DBRS’s rating of the Republic of Ireland. DBRS considers the information available to it for the purposes of providing this rating was of satisfactory quality.

Lead Analyst: Steven Picarillo
Rating Committee Chair: Alan G. Reid
Initial Rating Date: 6 September 2005
Most Recent Rating Update: 22 July 2011

For additional information on this rating, please refer to the linking document under Related Research.