OREANDA-NEWS. Fitch Ratings assigned Skipton Building Society's (Skipton) GBP2bn euro medium-term note (EMTN) programme ratings of 'BBB'/'F2' on 22 April 2015. The ratings apply only to the issuance of senior unsecured notes by Skipton. The rating is a senior programme rating and does not imply that the ratings will be assigned to all notes issued under the programme.

KEY RATING DRIVERS
The senior programme rating is in line with Skipton's 'BBB' Long-term Issuer Default Rating (IDR). Fitch views the likelihood of default on any given senior unsecured obligation as the same as the likelihood of default of the society, because default on any material class of senior unsecured obligations would be treated by Fitch as a default of the entity.

RATING SENSITIVITIES
As the EMTN programme is rated in line with Skipton's Long-term IDR, the ratings are primarily sensitive to any change to its IDR.