Singapore, May 02, 2012 -- The following release represents Moody's Investors Service's summary credit
opinion on Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp Ltd and includes certain
regulatory disclosures regarding its ratings. This release does
not constitute any change in Moody's ratings or rating rationale for Oversea-Chinese
Banking Corp Ltd and its affiliates.
Moody's current ratings on Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp Ltd and
its affiliates are:
Senior Unsecured (foreign currency) ratings of Aa1
Senior Unsecured MTN Program (domestic currency) ratings of (P)Aa1
Long Term Bank Deposits (domestic and foreign currency) ratings of Aa1
Bank Financial Strength ratings of B
Subordinate (domestic currency) ratings of Aa2
Subordinate (foreign currency) ratings of Aa2
Subordinate MTN Program (domestic currency) ratings of (P)Aa2
Junior Subordinate MTN Program (domestic currency) ratings of (P)A1
Preferred Stock Non-cumulative (domestic currency) ratings of A3
(hyb)
Commercial Paper (foreign currency) rating of P-1
Short Term Bank Deposits (domestic and foreign currency) ratings of P-1
Other Short Term (domestic currency) ratings of (P)P-1
OCBC Capital Corporation
BACKED Preferred Stock Non-cumulative (foreign currency) ratings
of A3 (hyb)
OCBC Capital Corporation (2008)
BACKED Preferred Stock Non-cumulative (foreign currency) ratings
of A3 (hyb)
Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp Ltd (Sydney)
Senior Unsecured (domestic currency) ratings of Aa1
Senior Unsecured MTN Program (foreign currency) ratings of (P)Aa1
Subordinate MTN Program (foreign currency) ratings of (P)Aa2
Junior Subordinate MTN Program (foreign currency) ratings of (P)A1
Other Short Term (foreign currency) ratings of (P)P-1
RATING RATIONALE
Moody's assigns a bank financial strength rating (BFSR) of B to Oversea-Chinese
Banking Corporation Ltd (OCBC), which translates into a baseline
credit assessment of aa3. The rating is supported by the bank's
strong financial fundamentals and entrenched franchise as one of Singapore's
big three banks and the largest insurer in Singapore.The rating
also reflects the bank's high credit risk concentrations in comparison
to its global peers and the intense competition in its markets.
Moody's believes that the probability of systemic support for OCBC is
very high, which results in a two-notch lift in the long-term
deposit ratings to Aa1 from its aa3 baseline credit assessment.
Rating Outlook
The outlook on all ratings is stable.
What Could Change the Rating - Up
The BFSR and deposit/debt ratings are already high, and are therefore
unlikely to be upgraded. For the BFSR to be upgraded, the
bank would have to lower its top 20 borrower concentration to below 350%
of its pre-provision profits, cut its problem loans ratio
to below 0.8%, and raise its risk-adjusted
profitability, with net income above 2% of risk-weighted
assets (RWA).
What Could Change the Rating - Down
The BFSR could be lowered if the bank's overall risk profile increases
significantly because of expansion into higher-risk markets or
engagement in sizeable acquisitions, but without sufficient equity
funding to maintain its strong capital ratios. A deterioration
in the bank's asset quality -- such that its problem loan
ratio exceeds 2% -- and a decline in risk-adjusted
profitability, with net income below 1% of RWA, could
also result in a review for possible downgrade.
The methodologies used in this rating were Bank Financial Strength Ratings:
Global Methodology published in February 2007 and Incorporation of Joint-Default
Analysis into Moody's Bank Ratings: Global Methodology published
in March 2012. Please see the Credit Policy page on www.moodys.com
for a copy of these methodologies.
REGULATORY DISCLOSURES
The Global Scale Credit Ratings on this press release that are issued
by one of Moody's affiliates outside the EU are 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, parties not 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.
Beatrice Woo
VP - Senior Credit Officer
Financial Institutions Group
Moody's Investors Service Singapore Pte. Ltd.
50 Raffles Place #23-06
Singapore Land Tower
Singapore 48623
Singapore
JOURNALISTS: (852) 3758 -1350
SUBSCRIBERS: (65) 6398-8308
Stephen Long
MD - Financial Institutions
Financial Institutions Group
JOURNALISTS: (852) 3758 -1350
SUBSCRIBERS: (852) 3551-3077
Releasing Office:
Moody's Investors Service Singapore Pte. Ltd.
50 Raffles Place #23-06
Singapore Land Tower
Singapore 48623
Singapore
JOURNALISTS: (852) 3758 -1350
SUBSCRIBERS: (65) 6398-8308
Moody's Disclosures on Credit Rating of Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp Ltd