The following constitutes the summary of the essential characteristics and risks associated with the Issuer and the Notes to be issued under the Programme. This summary should be read as an introduction to this Base Prospectus. Any decision by an investor to invest in the Notes should be based on consideration of this Base Prospectus as a whole, including any documents incorporated by

reference, any supplements hereto and the final terms relating to each tranche of Notes (the “Final Terms").

Where a claim relating to the information contained in this Base Prospectus, including any documents incorporated by reference, any supplements thereto and the Final Terms is brought before a court, the plaintiff investor might, under the national legislation of the contracting states of the European Economic Area, have to bear the costs of translating the Base Prospectus, including any documents incorporated by reference, any supplement thereto and the Final Terms before the legal proceedings are initiated. Civil liability attaches to the Issuer, who has tabled this Summary including any translation thereof, but only if this summary is misleading, inaccurate or inconsistent when read together with the other parts of this Base Prospectus.

The following Summary does not purport to be complete and is taken from and qualified in its entirety by the remainder of this Base Prospectus and, in relation to the terms and conditions of any particular Tranche of Notes, the Final Terms.