NOTE: On January 12, 2018, the press release was corrected as follows: The byline city and the releasing office at the end of the press release were changed to Hong Kong. Revised release follows.
Hong Kong, November 22, 2010 -- Moody's Investors Service has assigned XacBank the following ratings,
with a stable outlook:
- D- Bank Financial Strength Rating (BFSR), mapped
to Ba3 baseline credit assessment (BCA)
- Ba3/NP long- and short-term local currency deposit
ratings
- B2/NP long- and short-term foreign currency deposit
ratings
- Ba3/NP long-term local and foreign currency issuer ratings
RATINGS RATIONALE
"XacBank's D- BFSR reflects its growing franchise, adequate
capital, and stabilizing asset quality. These strengths,
however, are offset by the bank's narrowing profit margin,
small scale, and the volatile operating environment in Mongolia,"
says Yvonne Zhang, a Moody's Vice President and Senior Analyst.
"The local currency deposit rating of Ba3 is supported by the bank's
stand alone financial strength, as the local currency government
bond is rated lower at B1 and the systemic support to the bank from the
Mongolian government is moderate," adds Zhang.
XacBank's franchise has been strengthened, as it has grown
rapidly over the past few years. The bank's market share
by loan balance climbed to 9% in June 2010 from 5% in 2007,
and it has becomes the fourth-largest bank in Mongolia, although
its absolute size remains small on a global scale.
XacBank relies heavily on interest income. As a leading bank in
the micro finance sector, it has maintained a wide net interest
margin. However, with the micro finance market saturating
in recent years, XacBank has gradually shifted its business focus
to SME lending for growth.
The profit margin is declining as a result, and will be under pressure
in coming years due to increased competition in the sector. The
net interest margin declined to 7.2% in 2009 from 9.2%
a year ago. The bank's bottom line was also hit by higher
credit costs and operating expenses in 2009.
The deterioration in the bank's loan quality has stabilized,
and loan quality has improved so far in 2010. The bank's
asset quality has been much better than the system average, even
during the global financial crisis.
In our view, XacBank's expertise in micro finance and SME
lending, the lack of concentration risk, and its rapid loan
growth are contributing factors to the bank's low non-performing
loan (NPL) ratio. As of the end of June 2010, XacBank reported
an NPL ratio of 1.74%, compared with the system average
of 14%.
Nevertheless, volatile economic conditions will test its portfolio.
In addition, the bank's ability to maintain a balance between
gaining domestic market share and exercising prudent risk management will
be a key credit consideration. In 2009, the bank's
loan portfolio grew rapidly by 31%, while system-wide
loans were flat. During the first eight month of 2010, the
bank's loan growth was 40% compared with 14% in the
system. Loan quality may be pressured if economic growth slows
down.
The bank has a solid capital position; it reported a Basel I capital
adequacy ratio of 17.2% and a Tier 1 ratio of 13.2%
as of end-2009.
The bank's loan to deposit ratio at end-2009 was high,
around 157%. In addition, only 44% of its total
funding was in the form of deposits. However about 48% of
its funding was provided by international financial institutions and government
agencies to support the bank's microfinance and SME activities.
It is therefore likely to be more stable than typical non-deposit
funding. Moreover, this funding structure provides XacBank
with a relatively long-dated funding structure, a credit
positive in a market that has seen deposit runs in recent years.
The last rating action on XacBank was on December 2, 2009,
when all its ratings were withdrawn for business reasons: its bank
financial strength rating of D-; local currency long-term/short-term
deposit ratings of Ba3/NP; foreign currency long-term/short-term
deposit ratings of B2/NP; and local and foreign currency long-term/short-term
issuer ratings of Ba3/NP. The outlook for all ratings was stable.
The principal methodologies used in this rating were Moody's "Bank
Financial Strength Ratings: Global Methodology" published in February
2007 and "Incorporation of Joint-Default Analysis into Moody's
Bank Ratings: A Refined Methodology" published in March 2007.
XacBank is headquartered in Mongolia. It reported assets of MNT$320
billion (approximately US$221 million) at end-2009.
REGULATORY DISCLOSURES
Information sources used to prepare the credit rating are the following:
parties to the ratings, parties not involved in the ratings,
public information, and confidential and proprietary Moody's
Investors Service's information.
Moody's Investors Service considers the quality of information available
on the issuer satisfactory for the purposes of assigning a credit rating.
Moody's adopts all necessary measures so that the information it uses
in assigning a credit 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 ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on Moodys.com
for the last rating action and the rating history.
The date on which some Credit Ratings were first released goes back to
a time before Moody's Investors Service's Credit Ratings were fully digitized
and accurate data may not be available. Consequently, Moody's
Investors Service 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 the Credit Policy page on Moodys.com for the methodologies
used in determining ratings, further information on the meaning
of each rating category and the definition of default and recovery.
Beijing
Yi Zhang
Vice President - Senior Analyst
Financial Institutions Group
Moody's Investors Service (Beijing) Ltd.
Telephone:+86-10 6642 8968
Hong Kong
YoungIl Choi
Vice President - Senior Analyst
Financial Institutions Group
Moody's Investors Service Hong Kong Ltd.
JOURNALISTS: (852) 3758 -1350
SUBSCRIBERS: (852) 3551-3077
Moody's Investors Service Hong Kong Ltd.
24/F One Pacific Place
88 Queensway
Hong Kong
China (Hong Kong S.A.R.)