London, March 15, 2022 -- Moody's Investors Service ("Moody's") today downgraded the ratings and assessments of Belarusbank and Belagroprombank JSC.
Today's rating action follows the downgrade of Belarus's sovereign rating to Ca on 10 March 2022. (Please see "Moody's downgrades Belarus's ratings to Ca from B3; maintains negative outlook", https://www.moodys.com/research/--PR_463472). The action was triggered by the recent escalation of geopolitical tensions and significant further tightening of sanctions, targeting key economic sectors of Belarus. The impact of the sanctions is also reflected in the change of Belarus's Macro Profile to 'Very Weak' from ‘Very Weak+'.
For a detailed list of ratings affected, please refer to the end of this Press Release.
RATINGS RATIONALE
Today's rating action is driven by the weakening in sovereign creditworthiness and deterioration in economic and operating environments for Belarusbank and Belagroprombank JSC. The credit profiles of the two banks have strong linkages with the creditworthiness of Belarus, given the banks' government ownership, high direct sovereign exposure and lending to state-owned enterprises.
In addition, the rating action captures the credit implications for Belarus banks of very high geopolitical uncertainty, the recent and potentially more severe economic and financial sanctions against Belarus and its financial institutions.
The tightening of sanctions raises the probability of sustained and severe disruption to Belarus's economy, Belarusbank and Belagroprombank JSC, while potential imposition of additional sanctions, or extending the list of sanctioned banks, would make such disruption more severe. Moody's expects that Belarus banks' asset quality will weaken as borrowers' creditworthiness suffers from the weaker economic outlook and the imposed export restrictions. Furthermore, the current geopolitical situation will weaken depositor confidence, creating risks of deposit outflows. In a scenario where severe sanctions weigh on Belarus' financial sector's stability more than currently envisaged, further impairing the banks' ability or willingness to service their debt, their ratings could be downgraded.
The positioning of the banks' local currency deposit ratings one notch higher than the foreign currency deposit rating reflects Moody's expectations of greater ultimate repayment capacity for local currency obligations.
FACTORS THAT COULD LEAD TO AN UPGRADE OR DOWNGRADE OF THE RATINGS
A positive rating action on the banks' ratings is currently unlikely, given the negative outlook. The outlook could be changed to stable, if Moody's concluded that that recovery for investors was likely to remain in line with the historical average for a Ca rating. While unlikely, Moody's would consider upgrading Belarus's ratings, if the likelihood of large losses for private creditors was to diminish durably.
In a scenario where severe sanctions weigh on Belarus' financial sector's stability more than currently envisaged, further impairing the banks' ability or willingness to service their debt, their ratings could be downgraded.
LIST OF AFFECTED RATINGS
..Issuer: Belagroprombank JSC
Downgrades:
....Adjusted Baseline Credit Assessment, Downgraded to ca from caa1
....Baseline Credit Assessment, Downgraded to ca from caa1
....Long-term Counterparty Risk Assessment, Downgraded to Caa3(cr) from B3(cr)
....Long-term Counterparty Risk Rating (Foreign Currency), Downgraded to Ca from B3
....Long-term Counterparty Risk Rating (Local Currency), Downgraded to Caa3 from B3
....Long-term Bank Deposit Rating (Foreign Currency), Downgraded to Ca from B3, Outlook Remains Negative
....Long-term Bank Deposit Rating (Local Currency), Downgraded to Caa3 from B3, Outlook Remains Negative
Affirmations:
....Short-term Counterparty Risk Assessment, Affirmed NP(cr)
....Short-term Counterparty Risk Ratings, Affirmed NP
....Long-term Bank Deposit Ratings, Affirmed NP
Outlook Action:
....Outlook, Remains Negative
..Issuer: Belarusbank
Downgrades:
....Adjusted Baseline Credit Assessment, Downgraded to ca from b3
....Baseline Credit Assessment, Downgraded to ca from b3
....Long-term Bank Deposit Rating (Foreign Currency), Downgraded to Ca from B3, Outlook Remains Negative
....Long-term Bank Deposit Rating (Local Currency), Downgraded to Caa3 from B3, Outlook Remains Negative
Affirmations:
....Short-term Bank Deposit Ratings, Affirmed NP
Outlook Action:
....Outlook, Remains Negative
PRINCIPAL METHODOLOGY
The principal methodology used in these ratings was Banks Methodology published in July 2021 and available at https://www.moodys.com/researchdocumentcontentpage.aspx?docid=PBC_1269625. Alternatively, please see the Rating Methodologies page on www.moodys.com for a copy of this methodology.
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 unsolicited.
a.With Rated Entity or Related Third Party Participation: NO
b.With Access to Internal Documents: NO
c.With Access to Management: NO
For additional information, 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 http://www.moodys.com/researchdocumentcontentpage.aspx?docid=PBC_1288235.
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.
Items color coded in purple in this Press Release relate to unsolicited ratings for a rated entity which is non-participating.
The person who approved this credit rating is Nick Hill.
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.
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