Bangkok--8 Dec--Moody's Investors Service
Moody's Investors Service has revised the outlook of the foreign currency debt and deposit ratings of eight Thai banks to negative from stable. This action follows the change in Moody's outlook to negative for Thailand's A3 foreign currency bond country ceiling, Baa1 foreign currency deposit ceiling, and Baa1 foreign and local currency government ratings.
See Moody's press release of December 4, 2008, for greater discussion on sovereign issues.
The affected banks are Bangkok Bank (BBL), Export-Import Bank of Thailand (EXIMT), Government Housing Bank of Thailand (GHB), Kasikornbank Public Co Ltd (KBank), Krung Thai Bank (KTB), Siam Commercial Bank Public Co Ltd (SCB), Standard Chartered Bank (Thai) Public Co Ltd (SCBT), and United Overseas Bank (Thai) Public Co Ltd (UOBT).
The bank financial strength ratings (BFSR) of all eight are unaffected.
In addition, the BFSRs of Bank of Ayudhya (BAY), Siam City Bank Public Co Ltd (SCIB) and TMB Bank Public Co Ltd (TMB) have also been unaffected.
"While none of the Thai bank financial strength ratings (BFSRs) were affected by the sovereign outlook change, we are in the process of assessing the impact of the accompanying lower GDP forecast on all Thai bank ratings," said Moody's Assistant Vice President and Analyst, Karolyn Seet. "We expect to announce our conclusions next week."
Moody's revised economic forecast for Thailand may be found in a special comment published yesterday entitled, "Thailand's Dysfunctional Politics Creating Economic Challenges and May Raise Event Risk".
Moody's last rating actions on BBL, GHB, KBank, KTB, SCIB, SCBT and UOBT were taken on May 4, 2007 under the new BFSR and JDA methodology.
Meanwhile, the last rating action for SCB was taken on November 5, 2008, when the outlook for its D+ BFSR and A3 local currency deposit and foreign currency senior debt ratings were changed to stable from positive.
The last rating action for BAY was taken on April 10, 2008, when the BFSR was upgraded to D from D-. At the same time, the bank's deposit and debt ratings were upgraded to Baa2/Prime-2 from Baa3/Prime-3.
The last rating action for TMB was taken on June 20, 2007, when the B1/stable outlook for its Hybrid Tier 1 securities was affirmed.
Finally, the last rating action for EXIMT was taken on October 30, 2006, when the foreign currency issuer rating was upgraded to A3/stable from Baa1/under review for upgrade.
The principal methodologies used in rating this issuer were "Bank Financial Strength Ratings: Global Methodology", and "Incorporation of Joint-Default Analysis into Moody's Bank Ratings: A Refined Methodology".
These can be found at www.moodys.com in the Credit Policy & Methodologies directory, in the Ratings Methodologies subdirectory.
Other methodologies and factors that may have been considered in the process of rating this issuer can also be found in the Credit Policy & Methodologies directory.
The outlooks for the following ratings were revised to negative:
BBL -- foreign currency long-term deposit rating of Baa1 and foreign currency subordinated debt rating of Baa1
EXIMT -- issuer rating of A3
GHB -- foreign currency long-term deposit rating of Baa1
KBank -- foreign currency long-term deposit rating of Baa1 and foreign currency subordinated debt rating of Baa1
KTB -- foreign currency long-term deposit rating of Baa1 and foreign currency certificate of deposit program of Baa1
SCB -- foreign currency long-term deposit rating of Baa1 and foreign currency senior unsecured rating of A3
SCBT -- foreign currency long-term deposit rating of Baa1 and issuer rating of A3
UOBT -- foreign currency long-term deposit rating of Baa1
The outlooks for the following ratings were unaffected by the sovereign rating action, and remain stable:
BBL -- BFSR of D+ and foreign currency short-term deposit rating of P-2
BAY -- BFSR of D, foreign currency deposit rating of Baa2/P-2 and foreign currency senior unsecured debt rating of Baa2
GHB -- BFSR of E+ and foreign currency short-term deposit rating of P-2
KBank -- BFSR of D+, foreign currency short-term deposit rating of P-2 and local currency deposit rating of A3/P-1
KTB -- BFSR of D-, foreign currency short-term deposit rating of P-2, local currency deposit rating of A3/P-1 and preferred stock of Baa3
SCIB -- BFSR of D, foreign currency deposit rating of Baa2/P-3, foreign currency senior unsecured debt rating of Baa2, foreign currency subordinated debt rating of Baa3, and short-term debt rating of P-3
SCB -- BFSR of D+, foreign currency short-term deposit rating of P-2 and local currency deposit rating of A3/P-1
SCBT -- BFSR of D+, foreign currency short-term deposit rating of P-2, short-term foreign currency issuer rating of P-2, local currency deposit rating of A3/P-1, and local currency short-term issuer rating of P-1
TMB -- BFSR of D-, foreign currency deposit rating of Baa2/P-2 and foreign currency preferred stock of B1
UOBT -- BFSR of D and foreign currency short-term deposit rating of P-2
Singapore
Karolyn C. Seet
Asst Vice President - Analyst
Financial Institutions Group
Moody's Singapore Pte Ltd.
JOURNALISTS: (852) 2916-1150
SUBSCRIBERS: (65) 6398-8308
Singapore
Beatrice Woo
VP - Senior Credit Officer
Financial Institutions Group
Moody's Singapore Pte Ltd.
JOURNALISTS: (852) 2916-1150
SUBSCRIBERS: (65) 6398-8308