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Guide to Best's Bank Deposit Ratings
Effective October 02, 2007

A Best's Bank Deposit Rating is an independent opinion, based on a comprehensive quantitative and qualitative evaluation of a company's capitalization, asset quality, management, earnings, liquidity and sensitivity to market risk.

Our rating process incorporates specific methodologies designed to address the banking industry. For more information about Best's Bank Ratings, please visit Best's Banking Center.

    View our FAQ or read Best's Guide to Bank Deposit Ratings for complete details on Bank Deposit ratings.
 
Other Rating Guides are available for Financial StrengthDebt and Issuer Credit.

A complete list of Best's Rating Methodologies covering topics such as Bank Deposit, Insurance, Financial Strength, Debt Ratings, and more are continually fine-tuned to reflect ever-changing industry, regulatory and legal developments. Please note that Best's Ratings are not a warranty of a company's financial strength and ability to meet its financial obligations. View our entire notice for complete details.

Bank Deposit Ratings

A Best's Bank Deposit Rating is an opinion as to the company's ability to meet its ongoing financial obligations to depositors.

Ratings from "aa" to "ccc" may be enhanced with a "+" (plus) or "-" (minus) to indicate whether credit quality is near the top or bottom of a category. A company's Bank Deposit Rating also may be assigned an Under Review modifier ("u") that generally is event-driven (positive, negative or developing) and indicates that the company's Best's Rating opinion is under review and may be subject to near-term change.

A.M. Best's Long-Term Credit Rating scale is used when assigning a Best's Bank Deposit Rating. The list below outlines the specific ratings in this area along with the associated descriptions.

Bank Deposit Ratings

Secure

Vulnerable

aaa (Exceptional)

bb (Speculative)
aa (Very Strong)
b (Very Speculative)
a (Strong)
ccc, cc, c (Extremely Speculative)
bbb (Adequate)
rs (Regulatory Supervision)

Rating Outlook

Best's Bank Deposit Ratings (aaa to c) are assigned a Rating Outlook that indicates the potential direction of a company's rating for an intermediate period, generally defined as the next 12 to 36 months. Rating Outlooks include Positive, Negative and Stable.

Usage of Best's Ratings

Best's Ratings are proprietary and may not be reproduced without permission from A.M. Best. View our Legal and Licensing information for details on the use of A.M. Best trademarks, logos and service marks.

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