New York, October 10, 2014 -- Moody's Investors Service has today affirmed Banco PSA Finance Brasil
S.A.'s (Banco PSA) baseline credit assessment (BCA) of ba3,
which is equivalent to a bank financial strength rating of D-.
Moody's also affirmed the bank's global local and foreign currency deposit
ratings of Ba2 and Not-Prime, long- and short-term,
respectively, and the Brazilian national scale deposit ratings of
Aa3.br and BR-1, long- and short-term,
respectively. At the same time, Moody's changed to
stable, from negative, the outlook on Banco PSA's long-term
deposit ratings. The outlook on Banco PSA's bank financial
strength rating remains stable.
The following ratings of Banco PSA Finance Brasil were affirmed:
Bank financial strength rating: D-, with stable outlook,
which maps to a standalone baseline credit assessment of ba3
Long-term global local-currency deposit rating: Ba2,
with stable outlook;
Long-term foreign-currency deposit rating: Ba2,
with stable outlook;
Long-term Brazilian national scale deposit rating: Aa3.br,
with stable outlook
Short-term global local-currency deposit rating: Not
Prime;
Short-term foreign-currency deposit rating: Not Prime;
Short-term Brazilian national scale deposit rating: BR-1
RATINGS RATIONALE
In affirming Banco PSA's unsupported ratings at D-/ba3,
Moody's acknowledges the bank's adequate financial metrics,
particularly profitability and asset quality, despite the decline
in vehicle production and new car sales in Brazil in the first nine months
of 2014. Banco PSA's role as captive financing arm of automakers
Peugeot and Citroen allowed it to sustain business volumes through subsidized
interest rates and sales promotions in the first half of 2014.
As a result, the bank's interest income increased by 13%
in the 12 months to June 2014, although car financing dropped 6.9%
in the banking system during the same period.
Asset quality deteriorated modestly in the period as a consequence of
lower loan growth pace, but Banco PSA's 1.8%
past due loan ratio remained well below the system's 5.1%
average for auto loan delinquency, reflecting selective credit origination.
The high capitalization level at a Tier 1 ratio of 23.57%
provides cushion against non-performing loans.
The ratings are constrained by inherently modest earnings diversification,
which derives from a narrow product suit comprised of auto loans to individuals
and floor-plan financing to car dealers. The bank's
wholesale funding structure also limits ratings because of the high concentration
on institutional depositors, which tend to be more volatile and
pressure funding costs up.
The stable outlook on Banco PSA's ratings reflects the expectation
that as a captive bank, it will continue to benefit from special
arrangements with car manufacturers. Nevertheless, continuing
weak performance of the Brazilian car industry may hurt its asset quality
and profitability. The Brazilian subsidiary's Ba2 long-term
deposit rating incorporates one notch of uplift from its standalone ba3
credit assessment to reflect Moody's view of a high probability of parental
support in the event of stress, based on the shared strategic focus
of the subsidiary and its parent.
The last rating action on Banco PSA Finance Brasil S.A.
was on 29 January 2014, when Moody's affirmed all ratings of Banco
PSA and changed to negative from stable the outlook on its long-term
deposit and debt ratings.
The principal methodology used in this rating was Global Banks published
in July 2014. Please see the Credit Policy page on www.moodys.com
for a copy of this methodology.
Moody's National Scale Credit 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 credit 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 ".za" for South Africa.
For further information on Moody's approach to national scale credit ratings,
please refer to Moody's Credit rating Methodology published in June 2014
entitled "Mapping Moody's National Scale Ratings to Global Scale Ratings".
Banco PSA Finance Brasil S.A. is headquartered in São
Paulo, Brazil, and had total assets of BRL3.03 billion
($1.37 billion) and total equity of BRL435 million ($197.5
million) as of 30 June 2014.
REGULATORY DISCLOSURES
For ratings issued on a program, series or category/class of debt,
this announcement provides certain 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 certain 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 certain 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.
For any affected securities or rated entities receiving direct credit
support from the primary entity(ies) of this rating action, and
whose ratings may change as a result of this rating action, the
associated regulatory disclosures will be those of the guarantor entity.
Exceptions to this approach exist for the following disclosures,
if applicable to jurisdiction: Ancillary Services, Disclosure
to rated entity, Disclosure from rated entity.
Regulatory disclosures contained in this press release apply to the credit
rating and, if applicable, the related rating outlook or rating
review.
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.
Please see the ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on www.moodys.com
for additional regulatory disclosures for each credit rating.
Alexandre M. Albuquerque
Asst Vice President - Analyst
Financial Institutions Group
Moody's America Latina Ltda.
Avenida Nacoes Unidas, 12.551
16th Floor, Room 1601
Sao Paulo, SP 04578-903
Brazil
JOURNALISTS: 800-891-2518
SUBSCRIBERS: 55-11-3043-7300
Maria Celina Vansetti-Hutchins
MD - Banking
Financial Institutions Group
JOURNALISTS: 212-553-0376
SUBSCRIBERS: 212-553-1653
Releasing Office:
Moody's Investors Service, Inc.
250 Greenwich Street
New York, NY 10007
U.S.A.
JOURNALISTS: 212-553-0376
SUBSCRIBERS: 212-553-1653
Moody's affirms Banco PSA's ratings; stable outlook on supported ratings