OREANDA-NEWS. S&P Global Ratings today affirmed its 'AAA' credit ratings on Unicredit Bank AG's (BBB/Negative/A-2) German public sector covered bonds. The outlook on our ratings is negative.

We have conducted a credit and cash flow analysis based on our criteria for rating public sector covered bonds, and our covered bonds criteria (see "Methodology And Assumptions For Assessing Portfolios Of International Public Sector And Other Debt Obligations Backing Covered Bonds And Structured Finance Securities," and "Covered Bonds Criteria," both published on Dec. 9, 2014).

Based on the results of our credit and cash flow analysis, we consider that the available credit enhancement for the covered bonds is commensurate with our 'AAA' ratings on the public sector covered bonds.

There are no rating constraints related to counterparty, legal, or administrative, country, and operational risks.

The negative outlook on our ratings on the public sector covered bonds reflects the outlook on our long-term rating on the issuer and the fact there are no unused notches for the jurisdictional and collateral-based support. Any downgrade of the issuer could therefore lead to a downgrade of the covered bonds.

POTENTIAL EFFECTS OF CRITERIA CHANGES

Our ratings are based on our applicable criteria, including those set out in the criteria article "Nonsovereign Ratings That Exceed EMU Sovereign Ratings: Methodology And Assumptions," published on June 14, 2011. However, these criteria will be superseded by "Ratings Above The Sovereign - Structured Finance: Methodology And Assumptions," published on Aug. 8, 2016 and effective on Aug. 29, 2016. We generally do not expect these criteria to affect our ratings on UniCredit Bank's public sector covered bonds.