FIRSTRAND LIMITED - Amendment to the credit ratings of FirstRand Bank Limited and FirstRand Limited

Amendment to the credit ratings of FirstRand Bank Limited and FirstRand Limited

FIRSTRAND LIMITED
(Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa)
(Registration number: 1966/010753/06)
JSE Share code: FSR ISIN: ZAE000066304
NSX Ordinary Share Code: FST
(FSR)

FIRSTRAND BANK LIMITED
(Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa)
(Registration No. 1929/001225/06)
Company code: BIFR1
(FRB)

AMENDMENT TO THE    CREDIT   RATINGS   OF   FIRSTRAND   BANK   LIMITED   AND
FIRSTRAND LIMITED

Noteholders are referred to the announcement issued by Standard and
Poor's (S&P) on 18 June 2014, in which the agency announced that
following the lowering of its foreign currency ratings on the
Republic of South Africa it had downgraded by one notch the long- and
short-term counterparty credit ratings of four large South African
banks, including FirstRand Bank Limited (FRB), to 'BBB-/A-3' from
'BBB/A-2', which remains investment grade.

It is standard practice for a holding company (in this case FirstRand
Limited or FSR) to be rated at least one notch lower than the
operating company (in this case FRB). Therefore, S&P also downgraded
FSR to 'BB+/B' from 'BBB-/A-3', however, it is important to note that
the FirstRand Group issues debt out of FRB, the credit counterparty.
No debt is issued at an FSR level.

Please refer to the S&P press release for any further information.

19 June 2014

Debt Sponsor
Rand Merchant Bank (A division of FirstRand Bank Limited)

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