Tokyo, July 03, 2020 -- Moody's Japan K.K. has affirmed all the ratings of Daiwa
Securities Group Inc. (Daiwa) and its core operating subsidiary
Daiwa Securities Co. Ltd. (Daiwa Securities). The
outlook on the ratings is stable.
At the same time, Moody's has withdrawn the outlook on Daiwa's
senior unsecured rating for its own business reasons. Please refer
to the Moody's Investors Service's Policy for Withdrawal of Credit Ratings,
available on www.moodys.com.
The list of affected ratings are below.
Daiwa Securities Group Inc. (Daiwa)
- Senior unsecured (Foreign): affirmed Baa1
- Senior unsecured MTN (Domestic): affirmed (P)Baa1
- Outlook: remains stable
Daiwa Securities Co. Ltd. (Daiwa Securities)
- Long-term issuer rating: affirmed A3
- Short-term issuer rating: affirmed P-2
- Senior unsecured MTN (Domestic): affirmed (P)A3
- Senior unsecured (Domestic): affirmed A3 (originally issued
by Daiwa Securities Capital Markets Co. Ltd.)
- Commercial Paper (Foreign): affirmed P-2
- Other short term (Domestic): affirmed (P)P-2
- Outlook: remains stable
RATINGS RATIONALE
The affirmation of Daiwa Securities' and Daiwa's ratings reflects
Moody's view that Daiwa's low risk appetite and low earnings
volatility will remain unchanged, given its continued focus on the
domestic market in Japan and plan to reform its revenue and expense structure.
Daiwa Securities' A3 long-term issuer rating incorporates a three-notch
uplift from its Baa3 standalone assessment, reflecting Moody's expectation
of a very high likelihood of government support for the company in times
of need. Daiwa Securities' Baa3 standalone assessment reflects
the company's low risk appetite and low pretax earnings volatility,
which are somewhat offset by its weak but adequate liquidity, deteriorating
funding , low profitability and high leverage.
Daiwa plans to improve its weak profitability by JPY30 billion annually
through a combination of additional revenue and reduced expenses by the
fiscal year ending in March 2021 (fiscal 2020) compared to fiscal 2018,
by streamlining its branch and headquarter functions and reallocating
human resources to strategic business areas.
The company's risk appetite is increasing as it invests in adjacent
businesses as part of its strategy to enter new growth areas and diversify
its business. Although Daiwa is very strongly capitalized,
leverage has also been increasing as the company uses a large proportion
of debt to fund new investments. Consequently, Daiwa's
funding ratio is also deteriorating due to the company's use of
a mix of short-term funds to fund long-term assets.
However, further significant deterioration of these ratios is unlikely,
given that Daiwa has almost completed its strategic investments.
Daiwa is the second-largest capital markets company in Japan in
terms of profit, and is designated as a domestic systemically important
bank by Japan's Financial Services Agency. It is rated one notch
lower than Daiwa Securities because it is a holding company that depends
on upstreamed dividends from its operating subsidiaries, mainly
Daiwa Securities.
The stable outlook on the ratings reflects Moody's expectation that
Daiwa's financial metrics will remain broadly unchanged, given its
continued low risk appetite and low pretax earnings volatility.
FACTORS THAT COULD LEAD TO AN UPGRADE OR DOWNGRADE OF THE RATINGS
Moody's could upgrade the ratings of Daiwa and Daiwa Securities
if Daiwa maintains its low pretax earnings volatility, including
during times of market volatility, and reduces its leverage on a
sustained basis.
However, Moody's could downgrade the ratings of Daiwa and
Daiwa Securities if Daiwa experiences a large unexpected loss or if its
leverage or risk appetite increases substantially, as reflected
by a significant rise in private equity investments or illiquid/concentrated
assets, or a reallocation of significant resources to the company's
overseas business.
The principal methodology used in these ratings was Securities Industry
Market Makers Methodology (Japanese) published in November 2019 and available
at https://www.moodys.com/researchdocumentcontentpage.aspx?docid=PBC_1187336.
Alternatively, please see the Rating Methodologies page on www.moodys.com
for a copy of this methodology.
Daiwa Securities Group Inc., headquartered in Tokyo,
is one of the largest securities firms in Japan, with JPY23.8
trillion worth of consolidated total assets as of March 2020. Daiwa
Securities Co. Ltd. is the core operating subsidiary of
Daiwa Securities Group Inc.
REGULATORY DISCLOSURES
For further specification of Moody's key rating assumptions and
sensitivity analysis, see the sections Methodology Assumptions and
Sensitivity to Assumptions in the disclosure form. Moody's
Rating Symbols and Definitions can be found at: https://www.moodys.com/researchdocumentcontentpage.aspx?docid=PBC_79004.
For ratings issued on a program, series, category/class of
debt or security this announcement provides certain regulatory disclosures
in relation to each rating of a subsequently issued bond or note of the
same series, category/class of debt, security 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 credit rating action on the
support provider and in relation to each particular credit 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 credit rating action,
and whose ratings may change as a result of this credit 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.
The ratings have been disclosed to the rated entity or its designated
agent(s) and issued with no amendment resulting from that disclosure.
These ratings are solicited. Please refer to Moody's Policy
for Designating and Assigning Unsolicited Credit Ratings available on
its website www.moodys.com.
Regulatory disclosures contained in this press release apply to the credit
rating and, if applicable, the related rating outlook or rating
review.
Moody's general principles for assessing environmental, social
and governance (ESG) risks in our credit analysis can be found at https://www.moodys.com/researchdocumentcontentpage.aspx?docid=PBC_1133569.
The Global Scale Credit Rating on this Credit Rating Announcement was
issued by one of Moody's affiliates outside the EU and is endorsed
by Moody's Deutschland GmbH, An der Welle 5, Frankfurt
am Main 60322, Germany, 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 issued the credit rating is available on www.moodys.com.
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.
Tetsuya Yamamoto
VP - Senior Credit Officer
Financial Institutions Group
Moody's Japan K.K.
Atago Green Hills Mori Tower 20fl
2-5-1 Atago, Minato-ku
Tokyo 105-6220
Japan
JOURNALISTS: 81 3 5408 4110
Client Service: 81 3 5408 4100
Graeme Knowd
MD - Banking
Financial Institutions Group
JOURNALISTS: 852 3758 1350
Client Service: 852 3551 3077
Releasing Office:
Moody's Japan K.K.
Atago Green Hills Mori Tower 20fl
2-5-1 Atago, Minato-ku
Tokyo 105-6220
Japan
JOURNALISTS: 81 3 5408 4110
Client Service: 81 3 5408 4100