Sydney, March 20, 2012 --
The following release represents Moody's Investors Service's summary
credit opinion on Bank of New Zealand and includes certain regulatory
disclosures regarding its ratings. This release does not constitute
any change in Moody's ratings or rating rationale for Bank of New Zealand
and its affiliate.
Moody's current ratings on Bank of New Zealand and its affiliates
are:
Long Term Issuer Rating (domestic and foreign currency) ratings of Aa3
Senior Unsecured (domestic currency) ratings of Aa3
Long Term Bank Deposits (domestic and foreign currency) ratings of Aa3
Long Term Deposit Note/CD Program (domestic currency) ratings of (P)Aa3/Aa3
Bank Financial Strength ratings of C
Subordinate (domestic currency) ratings of A2
Short Term Bank Deposits (domestic and foreign currency) ratings of P-1
Short Term Deposit Note/CD Program (domestic currency) ratings of (P)P-1
Short Term Issuer Rating (domestic and foreign currency) ratings of P-1
BACKED Long Term Deposit Note/CD Program (domestic currency) ratings of
Aaa/Aa3
BNZ Income Securities Limited
Pref. Stock Non-cumulative (domestic currency) ratings of
Baa1, (hyb)
BNZ Income Securities 2 Limited
Preferred Stock Non-cumulative (domestic currency) ratings of Baa1,
(hyb)
BNZ Int'l Funding Ltd, London Branch
Long Term Issuer (foreign currency) rating of Aa3
Short Term Issuer (foreign currency) rating of P-1
BACKED Senior Unsecured (foreign currency) ratings of Aaa/Aa3
BACKED Senior Unsecured MTN Program (foreign currency) ratings of (P)Aa3
BACKED Subordinate MTN Program (foreign currency) ratings of (P)A2
BACKED Junior Subordinate MTN Program (foreign currency) ratings of (P)A3
BACKED Commercial Paper (foreign currency) ratings of P-1
BACKED Other Short Term (foreign currency) ratings of (P)P-1
RATINGS RATIONALE
Moody's assigns a stand-alone bank financial strength rating (BFSR)
of C to Bank of New Zealand (BNZ), which maps to A3 on the long-term
rating scale. BNZ's long-term deposit and senior debt ratings
of Aa3 are based on the very high probability of support from its parent,
the National Australia Bank Limited (NAB), and the moderate probability
of systemic support, in case of need. This results in a 3-notch
lift from its stand-alone BFSR. The short-term rating
is Prime-1.
BNZ's ratings reflect the ongoing impact of the challenging economic environment
in New Zealand, which has resulted in subdued economic growth.
Although BNZ has a diversified corporate loan portfolio, the bank
does have relatively high single name borrower concentrations due to its
higher proportion of corporate/institutional lending.
New Zealand major banks are structurally sensitive to wholesale funding
market conditions. At FY2011, BNZ had 47% of its total
funding base sourced from wholesale funding, up from 46%
at FY2010, and was the only New Zealand major bank to increase its
proportion of wholesale funding over FY2011.
The stable outlook reflects improved asset quality metrics over the past
year and reduction in wholesale funding reliance post FY2011.
Rating Outlook
BNZ's ratings are stable.
Systemic support was previously removed from junior subordinated debt
and preference stock ratings in March 2010 and from subordinated debt
in May 2011.
What Could Change the Rating - Up
BFSR
Given its reliance on wholesale funding, as well as the subdued
New Zealand local economy, an upgrade to BNZ's BFSR is not considered
likely in the near term.
Deposits & Debt Ratings
[1] An upgrade of the BFSR
[2] An upgrade of NAB's BFSR
What Could Change the Rating - Down
BFSR
[1] A significant rise in wholesale funding levels and/or a significant
rise in short-term wholesale funding (maturities < 1 year)
[2] Non-performing loans (defined as non-accrual loans
+ 90 days past due loans) % gross loans rising above 3%
and/or non-performing loans % (equity + loan loss reserves)
rising above 20%
[3] Sum of the 20 largest relationship exposures (rated below A3)
rising above 525% of pre-provision profits or 140%
of Tier 1 capital
[4] A concentration in secured funding develops (which includes covered
bonds, repo with the central bank, and securitisation) as
a percentage of total funding, or an over-collateralisation
within secured funding increases effective subordination of unsecured
obligations
[5] Pre-provision profits % average risk-weighted
assets falling below 1.45%, or net profit after tax
% average risk-weighted assets falling below 1.05%
Deposits & Debt Ratings
[1] A downgrade of the BFSR
[2] A downgrade of NAB's BFSR
[3] A lower parental support assumption
[4] A lower systemic support assumption
The methodologies used in these ratings were Bank Financial Strength Ratings:
Global Methodology published in February 2007 and Incorporation of Joint-Default
Analysis into Moody's Bank Ratings: A Refined Methodology published
in March 2007. Please see the Credit Policy page on www.moodys.com
for a copy of these methodologies.
REGULATORY DISCLOSURES
The following Global Scale Credit Ratings are EU endorsed by Moody's
Investors Service Ltd., One Canada Square, Canary Wharf,
London E 14 5FA, UK, in accordance with Art.4 paragraph
3 of the Regulation (EC) No 1060/2009 on Credit Rating Agencies.
Further information on the EU endorsement status and on the Moody's
office that has issued a particular Credit Rating is available on www.moodys.com.
For ratings issued on a program, series or category/class of debt,
this announcement provides relevant regulatory disclosures in relation
to each rating of a subsequently issued bond or note of the same series
or category/class of debt or pursuant to a program for which the ratings
are derived exclusively from existing ratings in accordance with Moody's
rating practices. For ratings issued on a support provider,
this announcement provides relevant regulatory disclosures in relation
to the rating action on the support provider and in relation to each particular
rating action for securities that derive their credit ratings from the
support provider's credit rating. For provisional ratings,
this announcement provides relevant regulatory disclosures in relation
to the provisional rating assigned, and in relation to a definitive
rating that may be assigned subsequent to the final issuance of the debt,
in each case where the transaction structure and terms have not changed
prior to the assignment of the definitive rating in a manner that would
have affected the rating. For further information please see the
ratings tab on the issuer/entity page for the respective issuer on www.moodys.com.
Information sources used to prepare each of the ratings are the following:
parties involved in the ratings, public information, and confidential
and proprietary Moody's Investors Service information.
Moody's considers the quality of information available on the rated
entities, obligations or credits satisfactory for the purposes of
issuing these ratings.
Moody's adopts all necessary measures so that the information it
uses in assigning the ratings is of sufficient quality and from sources
Moody's considers to be reliable including, when appropriate,
independent third-party sources. However, Moody's
is not an auditor and cannot in every instance independently verify or
validate information received in the rating process.
Please see the ratings disclosure page on www.moodys.com
for general disclosure on potential conflicts of interests.
Please see the ratings disclosure page on www.moodys.com
for information on (A) MCO's major shareholders (above 5%)
and for (B) further information regarding certain affiliations that may
exist between directors of MCO and rated entities as well as (C) the names
of entities that hold ratings from MIS that have also publicly reported
to the SEC an ownership interest in MCO of more than 5%.
A member of the board of directors of this rated entity may also be a
member of the board of directors of a shareholder of Moody's Corporation;
however, Moody's has not independently verified this matter.
Please see Moody's Rating Symbols and Definitions on the Rating
Process page on www.moodys.com for further information on
the meaning of each rating category and the definition of default and
recovery.
Please see ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on www.moodys.com
for the last rating action and the rating history. The date on
which some ratings were first released goes back to a time before Moody's
ratings were fully digitized and accurate data may not be available.
Consequently, Moody's provides a date that it believes is
the most reliable and accurate based on the information that is available
to it. Please see the ratings disclosure page on our website www.moodys.com
for further information.
Please see www.moodys.com for any updates on changes to
the lead rating analyst and to the Moody's legal entity that has
issued the rating.
Marina Ip
Asst Vice President - Analyst
Financial Institutions Group
Moody's Investors Service Pty. Ltd.
Level 10
1 O'Connell Street
Sydney NSW 2000
Australia
JOURNALISTS: (612) 9270-8102
SUBSCRIBERS: (612) 9270-8100
Stephen Long
MD - Financial Institutions
Financial Institutions Group
JOURNALISTS: (852) 3758 -1350
SUBSCRIBERS: (852) 3551-3077
Releasing Office:
Moody's Investors Service Pty. Ltd.
Level 10
1 O'Connell Street
Sydney NSW 2000
Australia
JOURNALISTS: (612) 9270-8102
SUBSCRIBERS: (612) 9270-8100
Moody's Disclosures on Credit Ratings of Bank of New Zealand