Fitch Affirms National City's Ratings; Outlook Remains Negative

Business Wire, April 21, 2008

NEW YORK -- National City Corporation (NCC) has announced a sizeable capital raise of approximately $7.0 billion of Tier 1 capital from institutional shareholders and Corsair Capital. Fitch Ratings has affirmed the long- and short-term Issuer Default Ratings (IDR) of NCC and its subsidiary bank National City Bank at 'A' and 'F1', respectively. The Rating Outlook remains Negative. A complete list of all ratings is provided at the end of this release.

The expected capital raise significantly boosts capital levels with Tier 1 increasing to approximately 11.40%. Additionally, the company has reduced the quarterly common stock dividend to $0.01 per share. NCC's capital levels, particularly regulatory capital ratios, had dropped below similarly rated peers weakening the company's financial flexibility as the credit cycle has become more challenging.

NCC is exposed to a number of lending lines that have been adversely impacted by the slow down in residential housing and the consumer sector. While individually this exposure is manageable, collectively they have caused a sizeable uptick in NPAs and NCOs. The heightened provisioning expense, continued NIM compression as well as ongoing one-time charges has impacted earnings from a number of fronts. While NCC is a diversified company, other aspects of the organization have not been able to fill the earnings void from the mortgage business. Although Fitch recognizes previous steps to reduce risk levels of the franchise, the company remains heavily exposed to the housing market.

Clearly NCC remains a turnaround situation and the maintenance of the Negative Outlook reflects the continued downward pressure on the company's ratings. To positively resolve the Rating Outlook, Fitch will look for stabilization in asset quality trends as well as an improvement in earnings momentum. Additionally, Fitch will review NCC's business mix and risk profile as mortgage banking plays a much smaller role in the company's franchise going forward. Further asset quality deterioration or failure to return to more appropriate earnings level could result in a ratings downgrade. However, the improvement in capital levels provides much needed flexibility for the company to manage through this process and reduces near term ratings pressure.

Fitch has affirmed the following ratings:

National City Corporation

--Long-term IDR 'A';

--Senior debt 'A';

--Subordinated debt 'A-';

--Preferred stock 'A-';

--Short-term IDR 'F1';

--Individual 'B';

--Support '5';

--Support Floor 'NF';

--Rating Outlook Negative.

National City Bank (Cleveland)

--Long-term IDR 'A';

--Long-term deposits 'A '

--Senior debt 'A';

--Subordinated debt 'A-';

--Short-term deposits 'F1'

--Short-term IDR 'F1';

--Individual 'B';

--Support '4';

--Support Floor 'B'.

National City Credit Corporation

--Short-term 'F1'

--Commercial paper 'F1'

--Support '5';

National City Capital Trust II

National City Capital Trust III

National City Capital Trust IV

National City Preferred Capital Trust I

Fort Wayne Capital Trust I

PFGI Capital Corporation

--Preferred stock 'A-'.

Fitch has affirmed the debt issues of the following inactive entities:

National City Bank of Indiana

National City Bank of Kentucky

--Long-term deposits 'A ';

--Senior debt 'A';

--Subordinated debt 'A-'.

National City Bank of Pennsylvania

--Long-term deposits 'A ';

--Subordinated debt 'A-';

National City Bank (Columbus)

--Subordinated debt 'A-';

The Provident Bank

--Long-term deposits 'A '.

Fitch's rating definitions and the terms of use of such ratings are available on the agency's public site, www.fitchratings.com. Published ratings, criteria and methodologies are available from this site, at all times. Fitch's code of conduct, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, affiliate firewall, compliance and other relevant policies and procedures are also available from the 'Code of Conduct' section of this site.