Our 'A-' rating on Kredittforeningen for Sparebanker reflects the company's strong capitalization and asset quality as well as the low liquidity risk due to a matched loan and funding structure

We believe that this will lead to higher margins on mortgage loans to offset lower margin requirements for SME customers. We also expect that large banks with low levels of SME loans will be able to cut lending rates more and therefore stand to gain market share

Our 'BBB+' rating on Sparbanken Västra Mälardalen reflects the bank's very strong capitalisation, its regional focus and low complexity. The bank operating model contributes to significant capital buffers which offset some of the risks associated with its small operating environment

The Riksbank has a difficult decision about what to do on December 20th, however, the eventual unwind of expansionary monetary policy is already underway and the repo rate is only one of the upward pressures on Swedish mortgage rates

Our 'A-' rating on Sparbanken Rekarne reflects the bank's relative capitalisation, its regional operating environment and the potential for ownership support. The bank is growing by retaining a higher share of loans in its balance sheet and has demonstrated access to capital markets with two senior unsecured issues of SEK 500m in 2018 to complete its retail deposit base.

Our 'A' rating on SpareBank 1 Østfold Akershus reflects the bank's best-in-class profitability, benign operating environment and strong capitalisation. The bank also has ample access to funding through deposits and the well-functioning covered-bond market in Norway

Competition is increasing for the incumbent banks, but, generally, the banks remain positive outliers in terms of capital, earnings and loss performance among global peers.

We are proud to be a part of the Nordic capital markets by publishing our first credit rating”, says Gustav Liedgren, CEO of NCR, and adds “it has been an intense process to reach this point, but we are confident that the market will be happy with the quality of our analysis and the relevance of our credit ratings.

Our 'BBB+' rating on Vacse reflects the company's strong and defensive portfolio, high operating efficiency and moderate leverage, supported by strong owners. The rating does, however, also reflect a relatively short funding profile, as well as the limited scale and diversification of the company.

We find that by making a few adjustments to improve RWA comparability, the average CET1 ratio for the Norwegian IRB banks increases from 16.4% to 18.2%, while the average CET 1 ratio for the largest Swedish banks is reduced from 21.2% to 17.3% as of end-2017

We believe that an increasing number of issuers in the real estate sector are moving towards 'investment grade' assessments, meaning 'bbb-' and higher.

“The fall of 2018 is expected to see a number of new SNP issuers come to market”, says Sean Cotten, Lead Analyst for financial institutions at NCR, and adds “regulators are finalising SNP regulation and banks are preparing investors for coming issuance.”

Our ratings will add transparency to the bond markets and that will ultimately benefit all market participants.