Announcement triggered by the change of outlook on the issuer rating of the government of the Netherlands
Paris, March 11, 2014 -- Moody's Investors Service has today affirmed the Aaa-rated debt
instruments that seven Dutch banking groups have issued. These
debt instruments benefit from unconditional and irrevocable guarantees
from the Kingdom of the Netherlands (Aaa, stable). At the
same time, the agency has revised the outlook on these debt instruments
to stable from negative and affirmed the provisional (P)Aaa rating of
a programme for the issuance of government guaranteed debt.
The rating action was triggered by the change to stable from negative
of the outlook on the long-term ratings of the government of the
Netherlands, announced on 7 March 2014. For more details,
please refer to Moody's press release "Moody's changes outlook on
the Netherlands' Aaa government bond rating to stable from negative;
rating affirmed" (https://www.moodys.com/research/Moodys-changes-outlook-on-the-Netherlands-Aaa-government-bond-rating--PR_294381).
The affected banking groups are:
-- Achmea Hypotheekbank N.V.
-- Fortis Bank (Nederland) N.V. (now merged
into ABN AMRO Bank N.V.)
-- ING Bank N.V.
-- LeasePlan Corporation N.V.
-- NIBC Bank N.V.
-- Propertize B.V.
-- SNS Bank N.V.
Please see the list of affected ratings at the end of this press release.
All other ratings of the listed banks remain unaffected by this rating
action.
RATINGS RATIONALE
DEBT INSTRUMENTS ISSUED UNDER THE 2008 CREDIT GUARANTEE SCHEME AFFIRMED
AT Aaa WITH STABLE OUTLOOK
In late 2008, the Dutch Ministry of Finance and the Dutch Central
Bank took measures aimed at restoring stability and confidence in the
Dutch financial and banking systems. The Dutch authorities set
up a Credit Guarantee Scheme of up to EUR200 billion operated by the Dutch
State Treasury Agency, under which the eligible instruments would
benefit from the irrevocable and unconditional guarantee of the Kingdom
of the Netherlands. Please refer to the press release "Moody's
to assign backed Aaa ratings to eligible banks' new debt securities covered
by Dutch guarantee", published on 3 December 2008 (https://www.moodys.com/research/Moodys-to-assign-backed-Aaa-ratings-to-eligible-banks-new--PR_168529).
As of today, the following six institutions have outstanding debt
issued under this programme (for Propertize B.V.,
see next section):
-- Achmea Hypotheekbank
-- ABN AMRO Bank (debt formerly issued by Fortis Bank (Nederland))
-- ING Bank
-- LeasePlan Corporation
-- NIBC Bank
-- SNS Bank
Today's affirmation of the government guaranteed debt instruments issued
by these six Dutch banks and the change in outlook to stable from negative
mirrors the change in outlook on the Netherlands' Aaa government
bond rating, announced on 7 March 2014.
These instruments are rated based on (1) Moody's assessment of the strength
of the guarantee; and (2) Moody's expectation that the guarantor
would pay any claim in a timely manner.
DEBT INSTRUMENTS AND PROGRAMME RATINGS FOR PROPERTIZE B.V.
The affirmation of the government guaranteed long-term debt programme,
the affirmation of government guaranteed debt instruments and the change
in outlook to stable from negative mirrors the action on the Netherlands'
Aaa government bond rating, announced on 7 March 2014.
On December 31, 2013 the shares of SNS Property Finance B.V.
were transferred from SNS Bank N.V. to (ultimately) NLFI
(Stichting administratiekantoor beheer financiele instellingen --
unrated), a Dutch administrative agency for and on behalf of the
Dutch State. On 1 January 2014 SNS Property Finance B.V.
was renamed into Propertize B.V.
On 22 January 2014, Propertize established a EUR4.1 billion
programme for the issuance of guaranteed euro-commercial paper
and guaranteed medium term notes. Notes issued under this programme
benefit from the irrevocable and unconditional guarantee of the Kingdom
of the Netherlands.
Ratings assigned to Propertize's programme and individual instruments
are based on (1) Moody's assessment of the strength of the guarantee;
and (2) Moody's expectation that the guarantor would pay any claim in
a timely manner. For more details, please refer to the press
release "Moody's assigns backed (P)Aaa and (P)Prime-1 ratings
to Propertize B.V.'s programme for state guaranteed debt",
published on 21 January 2014 (https://www.moodys.com/research/Moodys-assigns-backed-PAaa-and-PPrime-1-ratings-to-Propertize--PR_290937).
WHAT COULD CHANGE THE RATING UP/DOWN
Debt instruments and programme ratings affirmed today are based on the
unconditional and irrevocable guarantee of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
As such, any downgrades of the ratings of the government of the
Netherlands would trigger a similar action on the ratings of the debt
instruments issued under the Dutch Credit Guarantee Scheme and Propertize's
Credit Guarantee Scheme.
LIST OF AFFECTED RATINGS
The following ratings have been affirmed with stable outlook
- Backed senior unsecured rating of Aaa for guaranteed debt issued
by Achmea Hypotheekbank N.V.
- Backed senior unsecured rating of Aaa for guaranteed debt issued
by Fortis Bank (Nederland) N.V. (now merged into ABN AMRO
Bank N.V.)
- Backed senior unsecured rating of Aaa for guaranteed debt issued
by ING Bank N.V.
- Backed senior unsecured rating of Aaa for guaranteed debt issued
by LeasePlan Corporation N.V.
- Backed senior unsecured rating of Aaa for guaranteed debt issued
by NIBC Bank N.V.
- Backed senior unsecured rating of Aaa for guaranteed debt issued
by Propertize B.V.
- Backed senior unsecured rating of Aaa for guaranteed debt issued
by SNS Bank N.V.
The following ratings have been affirmed
- Propertize's provisional long-term backed senior
unsecured rating at (P)Aaa
PRINCIPAL METHODOLOGY
The principal methodology used in these ratings was Global Banks published
in May 2013. Please see the Credit Policy page on www.moodys.com
for a copy of this methodology.
The ratings affected by today's announcement are assigned by reflecting
the full risk transfer to the guarantor, i.e. by applying
a "credit substitution approach" that is based on an irrevocable and unconditional
guaranty provided by the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
For Propertize B.V., Moody's does not follow the usual
approach of establishing a bank financial strength rating (BFSR) to reflect
their standalone creditworthiness, nor does it apply a bank financial
strength scorecard, due to the limited value in Propertize carrying
a BFSR.
REGULATORY DISCLOSURES
For ratings issued on a program, series or category/class of debt,
this announcement provides certain regulatory disclosures in relation
to each rating of a subsequently issued bond or note of the same series
or category/class of debt or pursuant to a program for which the ratings
are derived exclusively from existing ratings in accordance with Moody's
rating practices. For ratings issued on a support provider,
this announcement provides certain regulatory disclosures in relation
to the rating action on the support provider and in relation to each particular
rating action for securities that derive their credit ratings from the
support provider's credit rating. For provisional ratings,
this announcement provides certain regulatory disclosures in relation
to the provisional rating assigned, and in relation to a definitive
rating that may be assigned subsequent to the final issuance of the debt,
in each case where the transaction structure and terms have not changed
prior to the assignment of the definitive rating in a manner that would
have affected the rating. For further information please see the
ratings tab on the issuer/entity page for the respective issuer on www.moodys.com.
For any affected securities or rated entities receiving direct credit
support from the primary entity(ies) of this rating action, and
whose ratings may change as a result of this rating action, the
associated regulatory disclosures will be those of the guarantor entity.
Exceptions to this approach exist for the following disclosures,
if applicable to jurisdiction: Ancillary Services, Disclosure
to rated entity, Disclosure from rated entity.
NIBC Bank N.V. or its related third parties did not participate
in the rating process. Moody's was not provided, for
purposes of the rating, access to books, records and other
relevant internal documents of the rated entity or related third party.
The below contact information is provided for information purposes only.
Please see the ratings tab of the issuer page at www.moodys.com,
for each of the ratings covered, Moody's disclosures on the
lead analyst and the Moody's legal entity that has issued the ratings.
Regulatory disclosures contained in this press release apply to the credit
rating and, if applicable, the related rating outlook or rating
review.
Please see www.moodys.com for any updates on changes to
the lead rating analyst and to the Moody's legal entity that has issued
the rating.
Please see the ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on www.moodys.com
for additional regulatory disclosures for each credit rating.
Stephane Herndl
Asst Vice President - Analyst
Financial Institutions Group
Moody's France SAS
96 Boulevard Haussmann
Paris 75008
France
JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456
SUBSCRIBERS: 44 20 7772 5454
Carola Schuler
MD - Banking
Financial Institutions Group
JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456
SUBSCRIBERS: 44 20 7772 5454
Releasing Office:
Moody's France SAS
96 Boulevard Haussmann
Paris 75008
France
JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456
SUBSCRIBERS: 44 20 7772 5454
Moody's affirms 7 Dutch banking groups' government--guaranteed debt; changes outlook to stable from negative
