Moody's on May 3 assigned Santander Consumer Finance SA unit long- andshort-term local- and foreign-currency deposit and issuer ratings of A3/Prime-2,with stable outlooks.

Concurrently, the agency assigned the Lysaker, Norway-basedlender a baseline credit assessment of "baa3," an adjusted baselinecredit assessment of "baa2" and long- and short-term counterpartyrisk assessments of A2(cr)/Prime-1(cr).

The lender's backed senior unsecured debt rating wasaffirmed at A3 with a stable outlook.

Santander's long-term issuer and deposit ratings take intoaccount the bank's baseline credit assessment, the rating agency's advancedloss-given-failure analysis, and high probability of affiliate support fromSantander Consumer Finance and ultimate parent .

The bank's BCA reflects its sound financial fundamentals andthe resilient performance of its lending portfolio in its four operatingcountries.