Mexico, March 27, 2012 -- Moody's Investors Service has today changed to negative from stable the
outlook of the B1 long term local currency deposit rating of Unión
de Crédito Agricultores de Cuauhtémoc, S.A.
de C.V. Organización Auxiliar de Crédito (UCACSA).
At the same time, Moody's de México changed to negative
from stable the outlooks on UCACSA's long term Mexican National
Scale deposit rating of Baa3.mx and short term Mexican National
Scale deposit rating of MX-3. Moody's also affirmed
UCACSA's E+ bank financial strength rating (BFSR) UCACSA's,
which maps to a baseline credit assessment of B1. The short term
global local currency deposit rating of Not Prime was also affirmed with
a stable outlook.
The following ratings had their outlook changed to negative from stable:
Long term global local currency deposit rating of B1
Long term Mexican National Scale deposit rating of Baa3.mx
Short term Mexican National Scale deposit rating of MX-3
The following ratings were affirmed:
Bank financial strength rating of E+, stable outlook
Short term global local currency deposit rating of Not Prime
RATINGS RATIONALE
Moody's changed the outlook on UCACSA's deposit ratings to
negative from stable based on its view that the decision to restrict the
admission of new members both as borrowers and depositors could have a
negative effect on the future growth, profitability, and asset
quality of the credit union's franchise. The agency noted
that this decision could also lead to an increasing reliance on more expensive
and less stable market-based funding in lieu of funding from new
customers as well as potentially limiting the credit union's asset
growth. Funding concentrations from existing customers would also
rise, leading to less pricing flexibility and therefore higher funding
costs.
UCACSA is restricting funding from new associates (also shareholders),
which tend to be a source of more stable, granular, and low
cost funding relative to market-based funding. As a result,
the credit union will have to increase its reliance on credit lines from
commercial banks and Mexican development banks to fund loan growth.
Moody's believes that an increase in market funding could have a
negative effect on the credit union's margins and overall profitability,
while at the same time increasing its exposure to repricing risk.
Asset quality could also be compromised if single borrower concentrations
were to increase as a proportion of total loans, capital,
and earnings, as the credit union restricts lending to existing
shareholders.
The negative outlook also reflects the competitive challenges the credit
union faces as a niche player in Mexico's relatively concentrated
financial system, particularly in light of this development,
said Moody's.
The last rating action regarding UCACSA occurred on 17 December 2008,
when Moody's assigned first-time ratings.
The methodologies used in this rating were 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. Please see the Credit Policy page on www.moodys.com
for a copy of these methodologies.
Moody's National Scale Ratings (NSRs) are intended as relative measures
of creditworthiness among debt issues and issuers within a country,
enabling market participants to better differentiate relative risks.
NSRs differ from Moody's global scale ratings in that they are not globally
comparable with the full universe of Moody's rated entities, but
only with NSRs for other rated debt issues and issuers within the same
country. NSRs are designated by a ".nn" country modifier
signifying the relevant country, as in ".mx" for Mexico.
For further information on Moody's approach to national scale ratings,
please refer to Moody's Rating Implementation Guidance published in March
2011 entitled "Mapping Moody's National Scale Ratings to Global Scale
Ratings".
UCACSA is a Mexican credit union headquartered in Cuauhtémoc,
Chihuahua, with Mx$2.9 billion (US$211 million)
in total assets, Mx$2.1 billion in loans, and
Mx$445 million in shareholders' equity as of 31 December
2011.
REGULATORY DISCLOSURES
Although this credit rating has been issued in a non-EU country
which has not been recognized as endorsable at this date, this credit
rating is deemed "EU qualified by extension" and may still
be used by financial institutions for regulatory purposes until 30 April
2012. Further information on the EU endorsement status and on the
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on www.moodys.com.
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
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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.
Moody's considers the quality of information available on the rated
entity, obligation or credit satisfactory for the purposes of issuing
a rating.
Moody's adopts all necessary measures so that the information it
uses in assigning a 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 Moody's Rating Symbols and Definitions on the Rating
Process page on www.moodys.com for further information on
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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
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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.
Felipe Carvallo
Asst Vice President - Analyst
Financial Institutions Group
Moody's de Mexico S.A. de C.V
Ave. Paseo de las Palmas
No. 405 - 502
Col. Lomas de Chapultepec
Mexico, DF 11000
Mexico
JOURNALISTS: 001-888-779-5833
SUBSCRIBERS:52-55-1253-5700
Jeanne Del Casino
VP - Senior Credit Officer
Financial Institutions Group
JOURNALISTS: 212-553-0376
SUBSCRIBERS: 212-553-1653
Releasing Office:
Moody's de Mexico S.A. de C.V
Ave. Paseo de las Palmas
No. 405 - 502
Col. Lomas de Chapultepec
Mexico, DF 11000
Mexico
JOURNALISTS: 001-888-779-5833
SUBSCRIBERS:52-55-1253-5700
Moody's: outlook negative on UCACSA's B1 and Baa3.mx local currency deposits