Actions follow sovereign downgrade
Paris, November 20, 2012 -- Moody's Investors Service has today downgraded to Aa1 (negative),
from Aaa (negative), the long-term issuer, bank deposit
and senior unsecured ratings of Caisse des Depots et Consignations (CDC)
and OSEO. Their Prime-1 short-term ratings are unaffected.
Moody's has also downgraded to Aa1 (negative), from Aaa (negative),
Agence Française de Developpement (AFD)'s backed senior unsecured
debt rating which is guaranteed by the French government.
At the same time, Moody's has also revised to negative from
stable the outlook on the long-term deposit and senior unsecured
ratings of Banque Federative du Credit Mutuel (BFCM), Credit Industriel
et Commercial (CIC) and Credit Mutuel Arkea. Other ratings and
corresponding outlooks for BFCM, CIC and Credit Mutuel Arkea are
unaffected by today's announcement. The ratings and outlooks
for other French banks rated by Moody's are unaffected by today's
action.
Today's actions were prompted by the weakening of the French government's
credit profile, as captured by Moody's recent downgrade of France's
government bond rating to Aa1 (negative) from Aaa (negative). For
more details, please refer to Moody's press release: http://www.moodys.com/research/Moodys-downgrades-Frances-government-bond-rating-to-Aa1-from-Aaa--PR_260071.
The ratings of instruments that benefit from the guarantee from the aforementioned
issuers are also affected. Please click on this link http://www.moodys.com/viewresearchdoc.aspx?docid=PBC_147552
for the List of Affected Credit Ratings. This list is an integral
part of this press release and identifies each affected issuer.
For additional information on bank ratings, please refer to the
webpage containing Moody's related announcements http://www.moodys.com/bankratings2012.
RATINGS RATIONALE
GOVERNMENT RELATED INSTITUTIONS' (GRIs) RATINGS AND GUARANTEED DEBT
RATINGS
--- CAISSE DES DEPOTS ET CONSIGNATIONS AND OSEO
The downgrade to Aa1 (negative outlook), from Aaa (negative),
of the long-term issuer, deposit and senior unsecured ratings
for CDC, of the issuer rating for OSEO and its fully guaranteed
subsidiary OSEO S.A. reflects the weakened credit profile
of the government of France.
From a credit-risk profile perspective Moody's considers CDC and
OSEO to be intrinsically tied to the French state through their operational
and financial ties with the government. As such, CDC's
deposit and senior debt ratings and OSEO's issuer rating derive
from the application of a credit-substitution approach, whereby
their ratings are aligned with those of the French government.
--- BACKED RATINGS OF CAISSE AUTONOME DE REFINANCEMENT
Moody's says that the backed senior unsecured rating for Caisse
Autonome de Refinancement (CAR) is based on the unconditional and irrevocable
guarantee from CDC. The downgrade of its backed senior unsecured
ratings to Aa1 (negative), from Aaa (negative), therefore
reflects the actions on CDC's senior unsecured rating.
--- BACKED RATINGS OF DEBT ISSUED BY CDC IXIS,
IXIS CIB AND NATIXIS STRUCTURED PRODUCTS LIMITED
Moody's says that the debt instruments issued by CDC IXIS,
IXIS CIB and Natixis Structured Products Limited -- and
which benefit from the unconditional and irrevocable guarantee from CDC
-- are also affected by today's action. The
downgrade to Aa1 (negative), from Aaa (negative) of the backed ratings
reflects the action on CDC's senior unsecured ratings.
--- BACKED RATINGS OF AGENCE FRANCAISE DE DEVELOPPEMENT
AFD's backed senior unsecured rating is based on the unconditional
and irrevocable guarantee from the French government. The downgrade
of AFD's backed senior unsecured rating to Aa1 (negative),
from Aaa (negative), reflects the similar action on the French government's
ratings.
BANQUE FEDERATIVE DU CREDIT MUTUEL, CREDIT INDUSTRIEL ET COMMERCIAL
AND CREDIT MUTUEL ARKEA
Moody's affirmed the Aa3 long-term deposit and senior unsecured
ratings of BFCM, CIC and Credit Mutuel Arkea, and revised
the outlooks to negative from stable. This reflects Moody's
view that if France's financial strength deteriorates further,
the benefit to the banks' senior unsecured creditors --
from potential systemic support to the Credit Mutuel group --
may diminish. As such, the outlook reflects the negative
outlook on the sovereign rating.
OTHER FRENCH BANKS UNAFFECTED BY TODAY'S ACTION
Moody's says that the ratings and outlooks for other French banks are
unaffected by today's rating action. These institutions have
lower standalone credit assessments -- taking into account
cooperative support -- and senior ratings than BFCM,
CIC and Credit Mutuel Arkea. As such, their long-term
ratings are less sensitive to the change in creditworthiness of the government
of France, according to our framework for determining potential
systemic support under Moody's Consolidated Global Bank Rating Methodology.
WHAT COULD MOVE THE RATINGS UP/DOWN
There is no upwards ratings pressure on the ratings, as indicated
by the negative outlooks.
The senior unsecured ratings for CDC and OSEO, as well as the guaranteed
debt issued by OSEO SA, CAR, AFD, CDC IXIS and IXIS
CIB and Natixis Structured Products would move in tandem with the rating
of the French government.
BFCM's, CIC's and Credit Mutuel Arkea's long-term
deposit and debt ratings could come under further negative pressure from
any of the following (1) deterioration of their standalone creditworthiness;
(2) a weakening of Credit Mutuel group's credit profile, or
a weakening of the probability of support from that group; or (3)
Moody's downwards adjustment of its currently very high expectations
of systemic support for the group which would be re-assessed in
case of any further deterioration of the French government's creditworthiness.
PRINCIPAL METHODOLOGIES
The methodologies used in these ratings were Moody's Consolidated Global
Bank Rating Methodology published in June 2012 and Government-Related
Issuers: Methodology Update published in July 2010. Please
see the Credit Policy page on www.moodys.com for a copy
of these methodologies.
REGULATORY DISCLOSURES
Please click on this link http://www.moodys.com/viewresearchdoc.aspx?docid=PBC_147552
for the List of Affected Credit Ratings. This list is an integral
part of this Press Release and provides, for each of the credit
ratings covered, Moody's disclosures on the following items:
• Releasing office
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.
The ratings of rated entity Agence Francaise de Developpement was initiated
by Moody's and was not requested by the rated entity.
Rated entity Agence Francaise de Developpement or its agent(s) participated
in the rating process. The rated entity or its agent(s) provided
Moody's access to the books, records and other relevant internal
documents of the rated entity.
The ratings have been disclosed to the rated entities or their designated
agents and issued with no amendment resulting from that disclosure.
Information sources used to prepare each of the ratings are the following
: parties involved in the ratings, public information,
and confidential and proprietary Moody's Investors Service information.
Moody's adopts all necessary measures so that the information it
uses in assigning the ratings 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.
Moody's considers the quality of information available on the rated
entities, obligations or credits satisfactory for the purposes of
issuing these ratings.
Moody's Investors Service may have provided Ancillary or Other Permissible
Service(s) to the rated entities or their related third parties within
the two years preceding the credit rating action. Please see the
special report "Ancillary or other permissible services provided
to entities rated by MIS's EU credit rating agencies" on the
ratings disclosure page on our website www.moodys.com for
further information.
The below contact information is provided for information purposes only.
Please see the issuer page on www.moodys.com for Moody's
regulatory disclosure of the name of the lead analyst and the office that
has issued the credit rating.
The relevant Releasing Office for each rating is identified under the
Debt/Tranche List section on the Ratings tab of each issuer/entity page
on moodys.com
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
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 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.
Stephane?Herndl
Asst Vice President - Analyst
Financial Institutions Group
Moody's France SAS
96 Boulevard Haussmann
Paris 75008
France
JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456
SUBSCRIBERS: 44 20 7772 5454
Carola?Schuler
MD - Banking
Financial Institutions Group
JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456
SUBSCRIBERS: 44 20 7772 5454
Releasing Office:
Moody's France SAS
96 Boulevard Haussmann
Paris 75008
France
JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456
SUBSCRIBERS: 44 20 7772 5454
Moody's downgrades CDC, OSEO and AFD to Aa1, negative; outlook changed to negative on Credit Mutuel group entities
