London, 21 October 2016 -- Moody's Investors Service, ("Moody's") has
today affirmed SBAB Bank AB (publ)'s (SBAB) A2 long-term
debt and deposit rating, following the affirmation of the bank's
baa2 Baseline Credit Assessment (BCA). The ratings outlook was
changed to positive from stable.
The change in outlook to positive reflects Moody's expectations
that the bank's historically volatile earnings will stabilize at
current levels or even increase slightly, while its funding profile
will continue to improve, which would bring SBAB's credit
profile more in line with baa1-BCA peers.
The affirmation of SBAB's ratings reflects the bank's maintenance
of strong credit quality over time, with a history of low levels
of problem loans and high capital ratios, counterbalanced by limited
profitability and a relatively high dependence on market funding.
The full list of affected ratings is provided at the end of the press
release.
RATINGS RATIONALE
--- CHANGE IN OUTLOOK TO POSITIVE REFLECTS PROFITABILITY
AND FUNDING IMPROVEMENTS
The positive outlook on SBAB's long-term ratings primarily
reflects Moody's expectations that SBAB will be able to maintain
its current profitability level, which has increased in recent years,
underpinned by resilience in net interest margins (NIM) despite the prolonged
low interest rate environment. SBAB recorded net income over tangible
assets of 0.38% at H1 2016 and NIM of 0.70%.
The other key driver for the change in outlook is the expectation that
SBAB will continue to reduce reliance on market funding through further
diversification into deposits, thereby reducing its gross loans/deposits
ratio of 344% at end-June 2016, as well as extending
the bank's average maturity profile of its market debt, which
we estimate a duration of around 2.8 years.
--- AFFIRMATION OF THE baa2 BCA REFLECTS STRONG CREDIT
QUALITY
The affirmation of SBAB's standalone BCA of baa2 reflects the strong credit
quality track record of the bank, despite the tail risks posed by
rapid Swedish property market appreciation, as well as robust capital
buffers despite modest -- albeit improving -- profitability.
SBAB's loan book is predominantly focused on retail mortgages,
in the strong and relatively stable Swedish economic environment.
Nevertheless, the relatively high level of household indebtedness
(179% at end-2015) in Sweden, in the context of a
prolonged period of rapid loan growth, has raised the risks of a
price correction and related credit quality deterioration.
Although tail risks remain in the Swedish property market, Moody's
notes a number of mitigating factors, including recently introduced
measures to contain the proliferation of high loan-to-value
(LTV) mortgages (e.g. minimum amortisation requirements,
increased countercyclical buffers, etc.) and a very limited
amount of speculative buy-to-let lending. Moody's
also notes that the pace of property price appreciation has eased in recent
months, which should contribute to a gradual convergence of property
price appreciation with real wage growth (2.9% in 2015).
SBAB's retail mortgage book has a weighted average loan-to-value
(LTV) of 64% for the total portfolio, and 68% on new
lending. Problem loans over gross loans ratio has been stable over
the years, standing at 0.10% at end-June 2016.
The BCA also takes account of SBAB's historically low and volatile profitability,
as well as high market-funding reliance, which renders the
bank more susceptible to shifts in investor sentiment. Nevertheless,
Moody's acknowledges that the bank has increased its deposit funding and
improved its maturity profile in recent years, and views the bank's
low profitability and limited capital generating ability in the context
of its limited credit risk as a mortgage lender.
--- RATIONALE FOR DEPOSIT RATING AND SENIOR UNSECURED
DEBT RATINGS
The bank's deposit and senior unsecured debt ratings are positioned at
A2/Prime-1, taking into account the bank's baa2 BCA and Moody's
view of a very low probability of losses for these debt classes in case
of bail-in, which results in two notches of rating uplift
under the rating agency's advanced loss given failure (LGF) approach.
The LGF analysis assesses the potential cushion to creditors provided
by the banking group's own volume of deposits and debt, and the
volume of securities subordinated to them in the creditor hierarchy.
Additionally, a moderate level of government support from Sweden
(Aaa stable) is incorporated in SBAB's unsecured ratings,
providing one further notch of rating uplift. Moody's support
assumptions are derived from the fact that SBAB is fully owned by the
Swedish government and has a meaningful market share in the Swedish residential
mortgage market (7.9% at end-December 2015).
WHAT COULD CHANGE THE RATING -- UP/DOWN
As implied by the rationale supporting the positive outlook on SBAB's
ratings, could be upgraded if: (1) the recent improvement
in SBAB Bank's funding profile proves sustainable and deposits exhibit
stability if their price level reduces; and/or (2) profitability
is sustained without a corresponding increase in risk profile.
Although a low-probability scenario given the positive outlook
currently assigned to SBAB's ratings, SBAB Bank's senior unsecured
ratings could be downgraded if its cushion of bail-in eligible
liabilities shrinks considerably. Moody's would also consider downgrading
SBAB Bank's long-term and subordinated ratings should: (1)
the bank's profitability significantly deteriorates, and/ or (2)
the bank's risk profile increases due to increased exposure to more volatile
sectors (e.g. unsecured lending).
LIST OF AFFECTED RATINGS
Issuer: SBAB Bank AB (publ)
Affirmations:
....LT Issuer Rating, Affirmed A2,
Outlook Changed To Positive From Stable
....LT Bank Deposits (Local & Foreign
Currency), Affirmed A2, Outlook Changed To Positive From Stable
....ST Bank Deposits (Local & Foreign
Currency), Affirmed P-1
....Senior Unsecured Regular Bond/Debenture
(Local & Foreign Currency), Affirmed A2, Outlook Changed
To Positive From Stable
....Subordinate (Local Currency), Affirmed
Baa3
....Senior Unsecured MTN (Foreign Currency),
Affirmed (P)A2
....Other Short Term (Foreign Currency),
Affirmed (P)P-1
....Subordinate MTN (Foreign Currency),
Affirmed (P)Baa3
....Commercial Paper (Foreign Currency),
Affirmed P-1
....Pref. Stock Non-cumulative
(Local Currency), Affirmed Ba2 (hyb)
....Adjusted Baseline Credit Assessment,
Affirmed baa2
....Baseline Credit Assessment, Affirmed
baa2
....LT Counterparty Risk Assessment,
Affirmed A1(cr)
....ST Counterparty Risk Assessment,
Affirmed P-1(cr)
Outlook Actions:
....Outlook, Changed To Positive From
Stable
PRINCIPAL METHODOLOGIES
The principal methodology used in these ratings was "Banks" published
in January 2016. Please see the Rating Methodologies 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 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 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.
Moody's considers a rated entity or its agent(s) to be participating
when it maintains an overall relationship with Moody's. On
this basis, the rated entity or its agent(s) is considered to be
a participating entity. The rated entity or its agent(s) generally
provides Moody's with information for the purposes of its ratings
process.
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.
Niclas Boheman
Asst Vice President - Analyst
Financial Institutions 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
Sean Marion
MD - Financial Institutions
Financial Institutions Group
JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456
SUBSCRIBERS: 44 20 7772 5454
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