DBRS Assigns BBB Rating to UBI’s EUR 750 million Tier 2 Notes

DBRS Ratings Limited (DBRS) has today assigned a BBB rating to the EUR 750 million Mandatory Pay Subordinated Notes (the Notes), which are in the form of Tier 2 Notes (ISIN: XS1404902535) to be issued by Unione di Banche Italiane SpA (the Issuer, the Bank or UBI) under its EUR 15,000,000,000 Debt Issuance Programme (the Programme). The trend on the Notes is Stable.

The BBB rating assigned to the Subordinated Notes is one notch below the Bank’s IA of BBB (high), in line with DBRS’ methodology for Rating Bank Capital Securities – Subordinated, Hybrid, Preferred & Contingent Capital Securities. The rating is sensitive to a change in UBI’s Long-Term Senior Debt and Deposits rating and Intrinsic Assessment, which are currently at BBB (high) with Stable trend.

DBRS highlights that the Notes and the coupons relating to them constitute unsecured obligations of the Bank and rank pari passu and without any preference among themselves. The Notes will rank in right of payment after unsubordinated, unsecured creditors (including depositors) of the Bank and any other subordinated obligations of the Bank that rank senior to Subordinated Notes.

Notes:
All figures are in EUR unless otherwise noted.

The principal applicable methodology is the Global Methodology for Rating Banks and Banking Organisations (December 2015). Other applicable methodologies include the DBRS Criteria – Support Assessments for Banks and Banking Organisations (March 2016), DBRS Criteria: Rating Bank Capital Securities – Subordinated, Hybrid, Preferred & Contingent Capital Securities (February 2016) and Critical Obligations Rating Criteria (February 2016). These can be found at: http://www.dbrs.com/about/methodologies

The sources of information used for this rating include Company’s reports and SNL Financial. DBRS considers the information available to it for the purposes of providing this rating was of satisfactory quality.

This rating concerns a newly issued financial instrument.

DBRS does not audit the information it receives in connection with the rating process, and it does not and cannot independently verify that information in every instance.

Generally, the conditions that lead to the assignment of a Negative or Positive Trend are resolved within a twelve month period. DBRS’s outlooks and ratings are under regular surveillance.

For further information on DBRS historic default rates published by the European Securities and Markets Administration (“ESMA”) in a central repository, see:
http://cerep.esma.europa.eu/cerep-web/statistics/defaults.xhtml.

Ratings assigned by DBRS Ratings Limited are subject to EU regulations only.

Lead Analyst: Nicola De Caro
Rating Committee Chair: Elisabeth Rudman
Initial Rating Date: April 27, 2016
Most Recent Rating Update: November 25, 2015

DBRS Ratings Limited
20 Fenchurch Street
31st Floor
London
EC3M 3BY
United Kingdom
Registered in England and Wales: No. 7139960

Information regarding DBRS ratings, including definitions, policies and methodologies are available on www.dbrs.com.