DBRS Downgrades Gov’t G’teed Debt of Banco Popular to A (high), Neg. Trend After Sovereign Downgrade

DBRS, Inc. (DBRS) has today downgraded the rating of the government guaranteed Senior Notes (the Notes) issued by Banco Popular Español S.A. (Banco Popular or the Group) to A (high) from AA (low). The trend remains Negative. This rating action follows DBRS’s downgrade of the Kingdom of Spain to A (high) from AA (low), with the trend remaining Negative.

The A (high) 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 A (high), remain at their current levels. The trend on all of Banco Popular’s non-guaranteed ratings remains Negative at this time.

Note:
All figures are in Euros unless otherwise noted.

The principal applicable methodology is the Global Methodology for Rating Banks and Banking Organisations. Other methodologies used include the DBRS Criteria – 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.

This credit rating has been issued outside the European Union (EU) and may be used for regulatory purposes by financial institutions in the EU.

This rating is endorsed by DBRS Ratings Limited for use in the European Union.

Lead Analyst: Roger Lister
Rating Committee Chair: Alan G. Reid
Initial Rating Date: 21 September 2006
Most Recent Rating Update: 16 April 2012

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