DBRS Confirms Banco Popular’s Gov’t Guaranteed Debt at AA; Trend changed to Negative from Stable

DBRS Inc. (DBRS) has today confirmed the rating of the government guaranteed Senior Notes (the Notes) issued by Banco Popular Español S.A. (Banco Popular or the Group) at AA. Concurrently, DBRS has changed the trend on these Notes to Negative from Stable. This rating action follows DBRS’s confirmation of the Kingdom of Spain at AA, with the trend changed to Negative from Stable.

The AA rating on the Notes is based on the explicit guarantee provided by the Kingdom of Spain. This rating of the Notes reflects the government’s ability to honour this guarantee as determined by DBRS’s rating of the sovereign.

All other debt ratings of Banco Popular, including the Group’s Senior Unsecured Long-Term Debt & Deposit ratings of AA (low), remain at their current levels. The trend on all of Banco Popular’s non-guaranteed ratings remains Stable.

Notes:
All figures are in Euros unless otherwise noted.

For further information related to DBRS’s rating action on the Kingdom of Spain, 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 the DBRS rating of the Kingdom of Spain. DBRS considers the information available to it for the purposes of providing this rating was of satisfactory quality.

Lead Analyst: Roger Lister
Rating Committee Chair: Alan G. Reid
Initial Rating Date: 21 September 2006
Most Recent Rating Update: 6 May 2011

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