Mr. Richie Boucher:

We deal with four different credit rating agencies. Before I get to our own, I will talk in a general attitude because that is much of the thrust of the Deputy's question.

Different agencies look at things differently. Standard & Poor's, in its rating, places a huge emphasis on what it calls the systemic-related issues. That means a bank is very tied with the sovereign ceiling and then the systemic issue. The organisation is very open and provides a very clear methodology. There is a high emphasis on the system so one cannot consistently outperform the system. I can see the sense in that because no matter how good one is, if the system is problematic and the country has issues, then one's own creditworthiness is impacted by that.

Moody's operates a slightly different position. It places less emphasis on the system but a big emphasis on the macro or the performance of the economy when it looks at banks of our size. Fitch is much more focused on the individual bank. For each of the credit rating agencies, our own rating has improved. We are still below investment grade for long-term debt but for short-term debt we are above investment grade. It does vary depending on short-term or long-term deposits. In general terms, the bank's improvement has contributed to that situation. Probably the biggest factor that influences our credit rating today is the perception of the sovereign.