Fitch agency confirms ABB's credit rating

Baku. 23 November. REPORT.AZ/ Fitch Ratings has affirmed International Bank of Azerbaijan's (IBA) Long-Term Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) at 'BB'. The outlook is Negative. The agency has also downgraded IBA's Viability Rating (VR) to 'f' from 'b-'.

"The affirmation of IBA's IDRs, Support Rating and SRF reflects Fitch's view that the Azerbaijan sovereign (BB+/Negative) has a high propensity to provide support to the bank, if needed. The Negative Outlook on IBA's ratings reflects that on the sovereign", Report informs, the agency stated. 

The downgrade of IBA's VR to 'f' reflects Fitch's view that the bank has failed. This in turn reflects the agency's view that the asset purchases completed in 1H16 revealed a material capital shortfall, given the very large volume of weakly-reserved exposures being transferred. The AZN 10 bln of transfers reported in the 1H16 was considerably more than the AZN 3 bln initially planned when Fitch reviewed the bank's ratings in March 2016.