OREANDA-NEWS. Fitch Ratings has withdrawn the ratings of seven primary savings banks that merged with other members of the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe (SFG, Germany's savings bank banking group, A+/Stable/F1+) in January 2016.

Fitch rates 354 members of SFG (out of a total of 409 as of 5 January 2016) on the basis of a group rating based on mutual support. A group of 50 savings banks in Hessen and Thuringia are rated separately as part of S-Finanzgruppe Hessen-Thueringen (A+/Stable/F1+) on the basis of mutual support within that group in addition to support within SFG.

KEY RATING DRIVERS
The ratings were withdrawn because the seven savings banks no longer exist as separate entities following their merger into other member banks of SFG. As a result Fitch will no longer provide ratings or analytical coverage of these issuers].

RATING SENSITIVITIES
Not applicable

The list of banks whose Long- and Short-term IDRs at 'A+' with Stable Outlook and 'F1+' respectively were withdrawn are as follows:

Kreissparkasse Altenkirchen
Sparkasse Gronau
Stadtsparkasse Freudenberg
Sparkasse Dinslaken-Voerde-Huenxe
Stadtparkasse Werne
Stadtsparkasse Hameln
Sparkasse Stockach

In addition, Fitch has corrected a rating action originally taken on 20 January 2015, when we affirmed Kreissparkasse Wesermuende-Hadeln's IDRs at 'A+'/Stable and 'F1+ and withdrew the ratings as a result of its merger with Sparkasse Bremerhaven into Weser-Elbe Sparkasse. However, the surviving entity is Kreissparkasse Wesermuende-Hadeln, which was subsequently renamed Weser-Elbe Sparkasse. We therefore correct this rating action as of 20 January 2015 as follows:

Weser-Elbe Sparkasse: IDRs affirmed at 'A+'/Stable and 'F1+'
Sparkasse Bremerhaven: IDRs affirmed at 'A+'/Stable and 'F1+' and withdrawn as a result of its merger with Weser-Elbe Sparkasse