Moscow, March 20, 2012 -- Moody's Interfax has today downgraded Kedr Bank's (Kedr's)
long-term National Scale Rating to Baa1.ru from A3.ru.
National scale ratings carry no specify outlook.
Moody's assessment is primarily based on Kedr's financial
statements for 2010 (audited) -- prepared under IFRS, and (unaudited)
Russian GAAP as at 1 March 2012.
Please see ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on moodys.com
for information on Global Scale Rating.
RATINGS RATIONALE
The rating action reflects Moody's concerns that recent changes
in ownership could lead to weakening corporate governance culture and
subsequently to deterioration of the bank's risk profile over the
medium term.
Moody's understands that under the new shareholders and the newly
appointed management team, Kedr is planning to implement a new strategy
of developing its retail business. This could significantly increase
provisioning costs and, in turn, exert adverse pressure on
Kedr's capitalisation. Moody's also notes that an increase
in related-party transactions or non-core business from
the current low level would be considered as a negative rating driver.
Moody's cautions that Kedr's capitalisation is relatively
low compared to domestic peer banks. Its total capital adequacy
ratio ("N1") of 11.90% as of 1 March 2012 was
slightly above the 10% minimum regulatory requirement. The
bank's capitalisation is solely supported by its retained earnings,
which are insufficient to absorb potential credit losses. Moreover,
Kedr's credit risk profile is pressured by the high level of single-name
concentration, which accounted for approximately 200% of
its capital for the top 20 borrowers at YE2011.
Over the medium term, Moody's believes the key rating constraints
will be the low level of Kedr's capital cushion, coupled with
the limited track record of new shareholders' ability to inject
capital as well as the uncertainty of the bank's long-term
strategy following the changes in ownership.
At the same time, Moody's notes that Kedr's liquidity
position is supported by its granular retail funding and its adequate
level of liquid assets (approximately 30% of total assets as at
YE2011).
Moody's says that the negative outlook on Kedr's B2 ratings
could be changed to stable if the bank demonstrates an ability to sustain
its current risk profile and maintains satisfactory assets quality and
capital levels.
Downward pressure could be exerted on Kedr's ratings by any material
adverse changes in the bank's risk profile, particularly an
increasing level of related-party transactions or concentration
levels in its loan book, significant impairment of the bank's
liquidity position, and any failure to maintain control over its
asset quality.
The methodologies used in this rating were Bank Financial Strength Ratings:
Global Methodology published in February 2007, Incorporation of
Joint-Default Analysis into Moody's Bank Ratings: A Refined
Methodology published in March 2007, and Mapping Moody's National
Scale Ratings to Global Scale Ratings published in March 2011.
Please see the Credit Policy page on www.moodys.com for
a copy of these methodologies.
Moody's Interfax Rating Agency's National Scale Ratings (NSRs) are
intended as relative measures of creditworthiness among debt issues and
issuers within a country, enabling market participants to better
differentiate relative risks. NSRs differ from Moody's global scale
ratings in that they are not globally comparable with the full universe
of Moody's rated entities, but only with NSRs for other rated debt
issues and issuers within the same country. NSRs are designated
by a ".nn" country modifier signifying the relevant
country, as in ".ru" for Russia. For further
information on Moody's approach to national scale ratings, please
refer to Moody's Rating Implementation Guidance published in March 2011
entitled "Mapping Moody's National Scale Ratings to Global Scale
Ratings".
ABOUT MOODY'S AND MOODY'S INTERFAX
Moody's Interfax Rating Agency (MIRA) specializes in credit risk analysis
in Russia. MIRA is a joint-venture between Moody's Investors
Service, a leading provider of credit ratings, research and
analysis covering debt instruments and securities in the global capital
markets, and the Interfax Information Services Group. Moody's
Investors Service is a subsidiary of Moody's Corporation (NYSE:
MCO).
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.
Information sources used to prepare the rating 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
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.
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
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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.
Lev Dorf
Analyst
Financial Institutions Group
Moody's Interfax Rating Agency
7th floor, Four Winds Plaza
21 1st Tverskaya-Yamskaya St.
Moscow 125047
Russia
Telephone: +7 495 228 6060
Facsimile: +7 495 228 6091
Yves Lemay
MD - Banking
Financial Institutions Group
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Releasing Office:
Moody's Interfax Rating Agency
7th floor, Four Winds Plaza
21 1st Tverskaya-Yamskaya St.
Moscow 125047
Russia
Telephone: +7 495 228 6060
Facsimile: +7 495 228 6091
Moody's Interfax downgrades Kedr Bank's National Scale Rating to Baa1.ru from A3.ru