Fitch Places Uruguay's Nuevo Banco Comercial's Ratings on Rating Watch Positive

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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Fitch Ratings has placed Nuevo Banco Comercial's (NBC) foreign and local currency long-term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) of 'BB-', national long-term rating of 'AA(ury)' and Support Rating of '4' on Rating Watch Positive. In addition, Fitch affirms the Support Rating Floor at 'B'.

The rating action follows the announcement of the acquisition of NBC by Bank of Nova Scotia (IDR: 'AA-') of 60% of the bank's equity, held a consortium of foreign investors led by Advent International; the Uruguayan government owns the remainder 40% in the form of preferred stock with no voting rights. The Rating Watch will be resolved once the transaction is approved by the Uruguayan and Canadian regulators and NBC's ratings will be upgraded to reflect the potential support from Bank of Nova Scotia.

NBC's ratings reflect the bank's strong national franchise, good asset quality, high liquidity and capitalization levels, and its improving overall performance. The impact on the bank's profitability of its significant asset USD position and inflation were also taken into consideration.

NBC is the third-largest private sector bank in Uruguay. Its market presence is significant in all segments and it had 6.1% of the banking system's assets at end-2009.

Additional information is available at www.fitchratings.com.

Applicable Criteria and Related Research:

--'Global Financial Institutions Rating Criteria', Aug. 16, 2010;

--'Short-Term Ratings Criteria for Corporate Finance', Nov. 2, 2010;

--'Uruguayan Banks: Annual Review and Outlook', Nov. 12, 2010.

Applicable Criteria and Related Research:

Short-Term Ratings for Corporate Finance

http://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=568726

Global Financial Institutions Rating Criteria

http://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=547685

Uruguayan Banks: Annual Review and Outlook

http://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=572725

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