S&P assigns first-time BBB- rating to Liberty Financial 24 February 2015 5:31PM Shereel Patel Standard & Poor's has assigned a BBB-/A-3 issuer credit rating to Liberty Financial.The first-time BBB rating puts Liberty in the company of deposit-taking institutions on the ratings scale.The rating "reflects the company's established and defendable niche business position, its strong capital and earnings, and its adequate liquidity and long-term wholesale funding," S&P said. "These factors are offset by the higher inherent risk associated with Liberty's non-conforming residential loan portfolio, which comprises about one-third of its residential home loan exposures."Credit analyst Lisa Barrett said the stable outlook "reflects our opinion that Liberty will remain a successful niche lender specialising in residential mortgages, motor and commercial loans.""The stable outlook also factors in an expectation that Liberty will maintain its risk-adjusted capital ratio between ten per cent and 15 per cent and its net charge-off ratio at around its June 30, 2014 level of 0.6 per cent over the medium term."