Fitch affirms Nordea's AA-minus credit rating

Nordic Business Report, June 16, 2009

NORDIC BUSINESS REPORT-16 June 2009-Fitch affirms Nordea's AA-minus credit rating(C)1994-2009 M2 COMMUNICATIONS http://www.m2.com

International ratings agency Fitch Ratings on Tuesday affirmed the AA-minus long-term credit rating of Nordic banking group Nordea Bank AB (Stockholm: NDA).

Fitch said the decision reflects Nordea's strong pan-Nordic customer franchise, which underpins its good revenue generation capacity, its relatively conservative risk appetite and good capitalisation.

'Nordea has remained relatively unscathed so far by the turmoil following the subprime crisis and the highly volatile and illiquid market conditions that have prevailed since then. It also benefits from a balanced funding base and maintains ample liquidity,' Fitch said in a statement.

But the ratings agency expects deterioration in Nordea's core markets, adding that loan impairment charges will increase, while reduced deposit spreads resulting from low interest rates and likely contraction in new lending volumes will dent operating profitability for the next two years.

Headquartered in Sweden, Nordea is a leading financial group in the Nordic region with a distribution network of about 1,400 branches.

((Comments on this story may be sent to nbr.feedback@nordicbusinessreport.com))