November 4 (SeeNews) - Fitch Ratings said it has affirmed Raiffeisenbank Bulgaria's Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at 'BBB'.
In addition, Fitch revised Raiffeisenbank Bulgaria's outlook to stable from negative, it said in a statement on Wednesday.
The ratings agency also said in its statement:
"KEY RATING DRIVERS
IDRS AND SUPPORT RATING
RBBG's IDR and Support Rating (SR) reflects our view of a high probability that RBI would support its subsidiary in case of need. This is due to the strategic importance of Bulgaria and the wider central and eastern Europe (CEE) region to RBI, strong synergies in supporting the group's objectives, and a high level of management and operational integration between the parent and the subsidiary. In our view, reputational risks to RBI would be high from a default of its Bulgarian subsidiary. We also believe potential support for RBBG would be manageable, given its small size relative to the parent's.
The Stable Outlook reflects evenly balanced risks to the parent's ability to provide support to RBBG.
RBBG's Short-Term IDR of 'F2' is the higher of two ratings corresponding to the bank's Long-Term IDR and reflects Fitch's view that RBI's propensity to support RBBG is more certain in the near term.
RATING SENSITIVITIES
IDRS and SR
Factors that could, individually or collectively, lead to positive rating action/upgrade:
-An improvement in RBI's ability to support RBBG
Factors that could, individually or collectively, lead to negative rating action/downgrade:
-A weakening in RBI's ability to support RBBG. RBBG may also be downgraded, if Fitch takes a view that RBI's propensity to provide support to RBBG has reduced, but such a scenario is unlikely."
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