Monday, December 14, 2020 /12:17 PM /by Moody’s Investors Service / Header Image Credit: Tire Business Proshare Nigeria Pvt. Ltd. Moody’s Investors Service ("Moody’s") has taken various ratings actions on some ratings of 32 banks across 10 African countries: Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Tanzania, Tunisia and Uganda.
The rating actions are driven by changes in the local currency (LC) and foreign currency (FC) country ceilings applied to the jurisdictions of the banks following the publication of Moody’s updated Country Ceilings Methodology on 7 December 2020.
As a result of the methodology change, FC ceilings for FC deposits were raised in 9 African countries (Angola, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Tanzania, Tunisia and Uganda), resulting in upgrades of FC deposits of 31 banks in these jurisdictions.
At the same time, FC ceilings applicable to debt obligations were lowered in 3 African countries (Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria), resulting in downgrades of FC counterparty risk ratings of 6 banks in these jurisdictions.
Today’s rating actions cover: (1) Banco Angolano de Investimentos, S.A., (2) Banco de Fomento Angola, S.A., (3) Banque Commerciale du Congo S.A., (4) Bank of Alexandria SAE, (5) Banque du Caire SAE, (6) Banque Misr SAE, (7) Commercial International Bank (Egypt) SAE, (8) National Bank of Egypt SAE, (9) GCB Bank Limited, (10) Co-operative Bank of Kenya Limited, (11) Equity Bank (Kenya) Limited, (12) KCB Bank Kenya Limited, (13) Attijariwafa bank, (14) Bank of Africa – BMCE Group, (15) Credit du Maroc, (16) Groupe Banque Centrale Populaire, (17) Access Bank Plc, (18) FCMB (First City Monument Bank) Limited, (19) Fidelity Bank plc, (20) First Bank of Nigeria Limited, (21) Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, (22) Sterling Bank Plc, (23) Union Bank of Nigeria plc, (24) United Bank for Africa Plc, (25) Zenith Bank Plc, (26) CRDB Bank Plc, (27) NMB Bank PLC, (28) Amen Bank, (29) Arab Tunisian Bank, (30) Banque de Tunisie, (31) Banque Internationale Arabe de Tunisie and (32) Stanbic Bank Uganda Limited.
Ratings Rationale
Today’s rating actions on 32 banks in Africa are driven by changes in country ceilings under Moody’s updated country ceilings methodology. Country ceilings typically indicate the highest rating level that would generally be assigned to the financially strongest obligations of issuers domiciled in a country, absent exceptional considerations such as external support from outside the country.
The updated ceilings methodology has unified deposit ceilings with the typically higher debt ceilings, […]
