Bangkok--10 Mar--Fitch Ratings
Fitch Ratings has affirmed the ‘BBB+’ rating on Siam Commercial Bank Public Company Limited’s (SCB; BBB+/Stable) USD3.5bn medium-term note (MTN) programme. This programme is an update of SCB’s previous USD2.5bn MTN programme.
Senior notes under the MTN programme will represent direct, unconditional, unsecured, and unsubordinated obligations of the bank. Notes issued under the programme may be in any currency aside from Thai baht.
KEY RATING DRIVERS
The programme's ratings are in line with SCB’s Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) of ‘BBB+’. The bank's IDR is in turn based on its Viability Rating, which reflects the stand-alone strength of the entity. SCB is Thailand’s second-largest commercial bank by assets as of December 2013, and it has sound profitability and capitalisation.
Rating Sensitivities
Any changes to the programme rating will be directly correlated to changes in SCB’s Long-Term IDR.
The other ratings of SCB are unaffected by this action, and are as follows:
Long-term IDR: ‘BBB+’; Outlook Stable
Short-term IDR: ‘F2’
Viability Rating: ‘bbb+’
Support Rating: ‘2’
Support Rating Floor: ‘BBB-’
National Long-Term Rating: ‘AA(tha)’; Outlook Stable
National Short-Term Rating: ‘F1+(tha)’
Long-term foreign currency senior unsecured debt: ‘BBB+’
National short-term senior unsecured debt programme: ‘F1+(tha)’
National long-term subordinated debt: ‘AA-(tha)’