London, 22 May 2020 – ARC Ratings, S.A. (ARC) has placed the final, long-term public ratings of ‘AAA(sf)’ to ‘BBB+(sf)’ accorded to the A-D tranches of the Senior Financial Guarantee provided by National Westminster Bank PLC (NatWest), on Negative Outlook due to the high exposure of the largest sectors of the reference portfolio, Retail and Offices (45.43% in aggregate), to the economic fallout from Covid-19; this preceded by the pre Covid-19 decline of the High-Street and a shift away from offices to working from home.