Bangkok--6 May--Moody's
Moody's Investors Service has assigned a A3 foreign currency debt rating to senior unsecured notes to be issued by Siam Commercial Bank Public Company Limited (SCB) through its Hong Kong branch.
The outlook on the rating is stable. The bank's other ratings remained unchanged.
Assignment:
Issuer: Siam Commercial Bank Public Company Limited
Senior Unsecured Regular Bond, Assigned A3, through its Hong Kong branch
The notes will be issued under the bank's USD2.5 billion Euro Medium Term Note (EMTN) Programme, which Moody's rates (P)A3 with stable outlook.
The notes will be listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange, in accordance with the programme terms. The exact amount, maturity, and pricing of the issuance have not been finalised.
As Thailand's fourth-largest bank by assets, Moody's believes that SCB's senior debt and deposit holders would benefit from a very high level of systemic support, which results in a three-notch uplift to the bank's A3 long-term global local currency (GLC) deposit rating from its Baa3 BCA.
The A3 rating -- the same as the bank's long-term GLC deposit rating (and one notch below Thailand's A2 foreign currency bond ceiling) -- assigned to these senior notes also incorporates Moody's expectation of systemic support.
These notes will constitute direct, unconditional, unsubordinated, and unsecured obligations of SCB and will rank pari passu among themselves and equally with all other unsecured obligations.
The principal methodologies used in rating the bank were Moody's Bank Financial Strength Ratings: Global Methodology, published in February 2007, and its Incorporation of Joint-Default Analysis into Moody's Bank
Ratings: A Refined Methodology, published in March 2007.SCB, headquartered in Bangkok, had assets of THB1.475 trillion (USD49billion) as of end-2010.