Rating agency Moody’s assigns investment-grade rating to Bigbank
Rating agency Moody’s Investors Service has completed the assessment of Bigbank and assigned the bank Baa3 long-term and Prime-3 short-term foreign and local currency bank deposit ratings. The rating agency also gave the assigned long-term deposit ratings a stable outlook.
Martin Länts, Chairman of the Management Board of Bigbank, said that Bigbank has undergone very rapid growth in recent years and is determined to continue increasing business volumes at the same pace. “The investment-grade rating that Moody’s assigned to us is assurance to our current depositors and partners about Bigbank’s operating model and the quality of our portfolio as well as supports our further international expansion,” he said. „It gives me great pleasure to quote the Moody’s report that the ratings reflect Bigbank's robust capitalisation coupled with strong profitability, and retail focused deposit funding.“
The list of ratings assigned by Moody’s to Bigbank:
- Long-term and Short-term Counterparty Risk Assessment, assigned Baa1(cr) and P-2(cr)
- Long-term and Short-term Counterparty Risk Ratings (CRR), assigned Baa1 and P-2
- Long-term Foreign and Local Currency Bank Deposit Ratings, assigned Baa3
- Short-term Foreign and Local Currency Bank Deposit Ratings, assigned P-3
- Adjusted Baseline Credit Assessment, assigned ba1
- Baseline Credit Assessment, assigned ba1
Moody’s notes in its Report that Bigbank's standalone fundamentals are strong, but aggressive growth over the past three years, with a 53% growth in gross loans in 2021, creates key credit challenges in a weak macro-economic environment. High levels of capital and strong internal capital generation are among the bank's key strengths, supporting the bank’s strategy to scale up its franchise.
According to Moody’s, Bigbank’s long-term bank deposit ratings carry a stable outlook, reflecting the fact that over the next 12-18 months the bank will continue growing its loan book rapidly. While this may lead to lower capitalisation and heightened asset risk, Moody’s expects Bigbank to manage these challenges.