DBRS Rates JPMorgan Chase’s New Issuances AAA, Based on FDIC Guarantee

DBRS has today assigned its AAA rating to the $5.0 billion 3.125% senior notes due 2011, the $1.0 billion Floating Rate senior notes due 2010 and the $500 million Floating Rate senior notes due 2011 issued by JPMorgan Chase & Co. (collectively, the Notes). The Notes are issued pursuant to the Prospectus, dated October 16, 2007; the Senior Debt Indenture (as amended), dated December 1, 1989; and the Prospectus Supplement, dated November 26, 2008. The AAA ratings are based on the explicit guarantee provided by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s (FDIC) Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program (TLGP) which is backed by the full faith and credit of the United States. Under the TLGP, the FDIC guarantees payment of qualifying debt issued by eligible U.S. bank holding companies, such as JPMorgan Chase & Co.

The AAA rating reflects DBRS’s opinion as to the guarantor’s ability to honor the guarantee as determined by DBRS’s internal assessment of the sovereign. All other debt ratings, including JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s A (high) Issuer & Senior Debt rating, remain at their current levels. The trend on all long-term non-guaranteed ratings remains Positive, where they were placed on September 26, 2008.

Note:
All figures are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted.

The applicable methodology is Rating Banks and Bank Holding Companies Operating in the United States, which can be found on our web site under Methodologies.
This is a Corporate (Financial Institutions) rating.