London, 19 January 2012 -- The following release represents Moody's Investors Service's summary
credit opinion on Switzerland, Government of and includes certain
regulatory disclosures regarding its ratings. This release does
not constitute any change in Moody's ratings or rating rationale for Switzerland.
Moody's current ratings on Switzerland, Government of are:
Long Term Issuer (domestic and foreign currency) ratings of Aaa
Senior Unsecured (domestic currency) ratings of Aaa
RATINGS RATIONALE
Moody's Aaa rating on Swiss government debt is underpinned by the country's
very high levels of economic, institutional and financial strength,
which support a very low event risk for the country's creditworthiness.
The economic strength assessment reflects the country's open, highly-developed
and diversified economy. Switzerland has a track record of fiscal
prudence, low inflation, and a strong net external creditor
position.
Switzerland's institutions (governance, rule of law) are very robust
and the system is highly transparent, which is supported by the
country's history of political stability even though a referendum democracy
tends to have a cumbersome reform and deregulation process. There
is broad consensus on fiscal discipline; after a period of fiscal
deficits during the 1990s, the budget gap was closed in 1999 only
to resurface after 2002 in a weak economic environment, leading
to fiscal rules ("debt brake") that have been in force since then.
Indeed, the growth dynamics of social security expenditures have
driven reform initiatives of the old age and the invalidity pension system,
such that the debt brake rules have now been extended to the social security
sector. The public debt burden compares favourably with the country's
payments capacity, which allows for significant fiscal manoeuvrability.
Rating Outlook
The Aaa country ceilings and government debt ratings are solidly positioned
and have a stable outlook. The federal government's fiscal position
remains strong, and we expect the country's debt burden to continue
declining from already-low levels in the coming years.
The government faces some challenges in the medium to long term.
The Swiss social security system will have to cope with financial pressures
exerted by an ageing population and relatively slow trend growth going
forward. Because of the importance of financial services to Switzerland's
economy, it will need to manage large contingent liabilities from
the banking sector on an ongoing basis. The 2011 "too big to fail
law" goes some way toward reducing the potential need for the sovereign
to use its own balance sheet to support the sector, but even successful
implementation of this new legislation will not completely eliminate this
risk from the country's risk profile.
What Could Change the Rating - Down
Downward pressure on the ratings would derive from a substantial deterioration
of debt metrics in absolute and relative terms that would have a negative
impact on Switzerland's debt affordability.
The principal methodology used in this rating was Sovereign Bond Ratings
published in September 2008. Please see the Credit Policy page
on www.moodys.com for a copy of this methodology.
REGULATORY DISCLOSURES
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.
This rating was initiated by Moody's and was not requested by the rated
entity.
This rated entity or its agent(s) participated in the rating process.
The rated entity or its agent(s) provided Moody's access to the
books, records and other relevant internal documents of the rated
entity.
The rating has been disclosed to the rated entity or its designated agent(s)
and issued with no amendment resulting from that disclosure.
Information sources used to prepare the rating are the following :
parties involved in the ratings, parties not involved in the ratings,
and public information.
Moody's considers the quality of information available on the rated
entity, obligation or credit satisfactory for the purposes of issuing
a rating.
Moody's adopts all necessary measures so that the information it
uses in assigning a rating 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.
Moody's Investors Service may have provided Ancillary or Other Permissible
Service(s) to the rated entity or its related third parties within the
two years preceding the credit rating action. Please see the special
report "Ancillary or other permissible services provided to entities
rated by MIS's EU credit rating agencies" on the ratings disclosure
page on our website www.moodys.com for further information.
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.
Sarah Carlson
Vice President - Senior Analyst
Sovereign Risk Group
Moody's Investors Service Ltd.
One Canada Square
Canary Wharf
London E14 5FA
United Kingdom
JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456
SUBSCRIBERS: 44 20 7772 5454
Bart Oosterveld
MD - Sovereign Risk
Sovereign Risk Group
JOURNALISTS: 212-553-0376
SUBSCRIBERS: 212-553-1653
Releasing Office:
Moody's Investors Service Ltd.
One Canada Square
Canary Wharf
London E14 5FA
United Kingdom
JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456
SUBSCRIBERS: 44 20 7772 5454
Moody's Disclosures on Credit Ratings of Switzerland, Government of