Bangkok--2 Dec--Fitch Ratings
Fitch Ratings has today revised the international rating Outlooks of nine of Thailand’s major banks to Negative from Stable. This action follows the revision of the Outlook on the Kingdom of Thailand’s foreign and local currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) to Negative from Stable yesterday. The rating Outlooks of government-owned banks are directly affected as are the ratings of foreign-owned subsidiaries whose ratings are constrained by Thailand’s ratings.
The international rating Outlooks of the major private banks are also affected by the projected large decline in Thailand’s GDP growth in 2009 to 0.9% and the possible reduction in medium-term growth prospects from the prolonged political crisis which could materially affect the financial health of these banks. As the National ratings are a relative measure of creditworthiness between the sovereign and other issuers within Thailand, the National rating Outlooks are, at this stage, not affected. Hence, all the National ratings on the nine banks listed below are affirmed with Stable Outlooks. A complete listing follows below:
Export Import Bank of Thailand:
Long-term foreign currency IDR 'BBB+' / Negative
Short-term foreign currency 'F2'; Support '2'
Support Rating Floor ‘BBB+’
National Long-term ‘AAA(tha)’/ Stable
National Short-term ‘F1+(tha)’
National senior unsecured debt ‘AAA(tha)’
Bangkok Bank:
Long-term foreign currency IDR 'BBB+' / Negative
Short-term foreign currency 'F2'
Individual 'C'; Support '2'
Foreign currency subordinated debt 'BBB'
Support Rating Floor ‘BBB-’(BBB minus)
National Long-term ‘AA(tha)’ / Stable
National Short-term ‘F1+(tha)’
National subordinated debt ‘AA-((AA minus))(tha)’
Krung Thai Bank:
Long-term foreign currency IDR 'BBB+' / Negative
Short-term foreign currency 'F2'
Individual 'C/D'; Support '2'
Foreign currency subordinated debt 'BBB'
Foreign currency offshore Tier-1 hybrid 'BBB-' (BBB minus)
Support Rating Floor ‘BBB+’
National Long-term ‘AA+(tha)’ / Stable
National Short-term ‘F1+(tha)’
National subordinated debt ‘AA(tha)’
National Tier 1 hybrid ‘A+(tha)’
Siam Commercial Bank:
Long-term foreign currency IDR 'BBB+' / Negative
Short-term foreign currency 'F2'
Individual 'C'; Support '2'
Foreign currency senior unsecured debt ‘BBB+’
Foreign currency subordinated debt 'BBB'
Support Rating Floor ‘BBB-’(BBB minus)
National Long-term ‘AA(tha)’ / Stable
National Short-term ‘F1+(tha)’
National Short-term senior unsecured debt ‘F1+(tha)’
National Long-term subordinated debt ‘AA-((AA minus))(tha)’
Kasikornbank:
Long-term foreign currency IDR 'BBB+' / Negative
Short-term foreign currency 'F2'
Individual 'C'; Support '2'
Long-term foreign currency subordinated debt 'BBB'
Support Rating Floor ‘BBB-’(BBB minus)
National Long-term ‘AA(tha)’ / Stable
National Short-term ‘F1+(tha)’
National Long-term senior unsecured debt ‘AA(tha)’
National Short-term senior unsecured debt ‘F1+(tha)’
National Long-term subordinated debt ‘AA-((AA minus))(tha)’
Bank of Ayudhya:
Long-term foreign currency IDR 'BBB' / Negative
Short-term foreign currency 'F3'
Individual 'C'; Support '3'
Foreign currency subordinated debt 'BBB-' (BBB minus)
Support Rating Floor ‘BB+’
National Long-term ‘AA- (AA minus) (tha)’ / Stable
National Short-term ‘F1+(tha)’
National subordinated debt ‘A+(tha)’
TMB Bank:
Long-term foreign currency IDR 'BBB-' (BBB minus) / Negative
Short-term foreign currency 'F3'
Individual 'C/D'; Support '3'
Foreign currency subordinated debt 'BB+'
Foreign currency Tier 1 hybrid 'BB-' (BB minus)
Support Rating Floor ‘BB’
National Long-term ‘A+(tha)’ / Stable
National Short-term ‘F1(tha)’
National subordinated debt ‘A(tha)’
Standard Chartered Bank (Thai):
Long-term foreign and local currency IDR 'A-'(A minus) / Negative
Short-term foreign and local currency 'F2'
Individual 'B/C'; Support '1'
National Long-term ‘AA+(tha)’ / Stable
National Short-term ‘F1+(tha)’
United Overseas Bank (Thai):
Long-term foreign currency IDR 'A-'(A minus) / Negative
Short-term foreign currency 'F2'
Individual 'C'; Support '1'
National Long-term ‘AA+(tha)’ / Stable
National Short-term ‘F1+(tha)’
For further details, please see the commentary entitled “Fitch Revises Thailand’s Outlook to Negative”, available on the agency’s subscriber website, www.fitchresearch.com.
Contacts: Darunee Peanmanakit, Patchara Sarayudh, Vincent Milton, Bangkok, Tel: +66 2 655 4755.
Disclosure: Kasikorn Asset Management Company Limited (of which KBANK holds 99.99%) owns 10% of the shares in Fitch Ratings (Thailand) Limited. No shareholder, other than Fitch Ratings Limited of the UK, is involved in the day-to-day operation of, or credit rating reviews undertaken by Fitch Ratings (Thailand) Limited.
Note to Editors: Fitch’s National ratings provide a relative measure of creditworthiness for rated entities in countries with relatively low international sovereign ratings and where there is demand for such ratings. The best risk within a country is rated ‘AAA’ and other credits are rated only relative to this risk. National ratings are designed for use mainly by local investors in local markets and are signified by the addition of an identifier for the country concerned, such as ‘AAA(tha)’ for National ratings in Thailand. Specific letter grades are not therefore internationally comparable.
Fitch's rating definitions and the terms of use of such ratings are available on the agency's public site, www.fitchratings.com. Published ratings, criteria and methodologies are available from this site, at all times. Fitch's code of conduct, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, affiliate firewall, compliance and other relevant policies and procedures are also available from the 'Code of Conduct' section of this site.