Singapore, July 25, 2013 -- Moody's Investors Service has placed the Ba1/ Not Prime local and foreign
currency deposit ratings of four Philippine banks on review for upgrade
following the review for upgrade on the Government of the Philippines'
debt ratings. The credit strength of the government is an important
input in our assessment of the government's capacity to provide
support in times of stress.
The banks whose ratings are placed under review are Banco de Oro Unibank
(BDO), Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), Land Bank of
the Philippines (LBP), and Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company (MBT).
In addition, BDO's foreign currency senior unsecured debt
rating of Ba1 and MBT's local currency subordinated debt rating
of Ba2 are placed on review for upgrade.
The bank financial strength ratings of the four banks remain unchanged.
A full list of the banks' ratings can be found at the end of this press
release.
RATINGS RATIONALE
"The review for upgrade of BDO's, BPI's, LBP's and MBT's ratings
reflect our assessment that these ratings would likely benefit from an
additional notch of systemic support uplift in the event that the parallel
review of the Philippine sovereign debt rating concludes with a rating
upgrade," says Simon Chen, a Moody's Assistant Vice President
and Lead Analyst for the Philippine banks.
In addition to considering the government's capacity to provide
support, which is reflected primarily by the government's
own rating, Moody's assessment will also take into account
the systemic importance of each bank, which would influence the
government's willingness to extend support in times of stress.
In assessing the systemic importance of each of the banks, Moody's
will consider factors including the bank's market share of system
deposits and loans, and the bank's role in the country's
payment system. The government's ownership in banks could
also impact Moody's view of the government's willingness to
provide extraordinary support to the banks.
Moody's expects to conclude the review of the affected banks' ratings
over the next three months, upon the conclusion of the review of
the Philippine sovereign debt rating.
The sovereign rating action on the Philippines is discussed in greater
detail in a Moody's press release of July 25, 2013.
WHAT COULD DRIVE THE RATINGS DOWN/UP
An upgrade of the sovereign rating would likely lead to an upgrade of
the bank ratings placed under review today, assuming all other bank
fundamental credit characteristics remain robust.
Conversely, the outlook on the banks' long-term ratings
could be revised to stable from review for upgrade if the sovereign rating
remains at Ba1 following the conclusion of the rating review, and/or
Moody's concludes that the the government's willingness to provide
support has diminished.
In the particular case of MBT's local currency subordinated debt
rating, which is also being placed under review for upgrade today,
an upward movement in the rating is not only linked to an upgrade of the
sovereign rating, as per the long-term ratings discussed
above, but also is contingent on the conclusion of a separate review
taking place in the context of a methodology update that has changed the
way Moody's assesses systemic support for bank subordinated debt.
For more detail, see Moody's press release dated 3 June 2013,
titled "Moody's announces reviews for downgrade of two banks' subdebt
ratings in the Philippines".
The ratings of the four banks are as listed below.
BDO Unibank, Inc
Bank Financial Strength Rating (BFSR) of D, which maps to ba2 baseline
credit assessment (BCA)
Local and foreign currency deposits rated Ba1/Not Prime
Foreign currency senior unsecured debt rated Ba1
All of its ratings are placed on review for upgrade, except its
BFSR which is assigned a positive outlook
Bank of the Philippine Islands
BFSR of D+, which maps to a ba1 BCA
Local and foreign currency deposits rated Ba1/Not Prime
All of its ratings are placed on review for upgrade, except its
BFSR which is assigned a stable outlook.
Metropolitan Bank & Trust Company
BFSR of D+, which maps to a ba1 BCA
Local and foreign currency deposits rated Ba1/Not Prime
Local currency subordinated debt rated Ba2
Foreign currency preferred stock rated B1(hyb)
All of its ratings are placed on review for upgrade, except its
BFSR and preferred stock rating which are assigned a stable outlook.
Land Bank of the Philippines
BFSR of D-, which maps to a ba3 BCA
Local and foreign currency deposits rated Ba1/Not Prime
All of its ratings are placed on review for upgrade, except its
BFSR which is assigned a stable outlook.
All four banks are headquartered in Manila and reported total assets as
follows.
BDO Unibank, Inc: PHP1,240 billion (US$30 billion)
as at March 31, 2013
Bank of the Philippine Islands: PHP940 billion (US$23 billion)
as at March 31, 2013
Metropolitan Bank & Trust Company: PHP1,020 billion (US$25
billion) as at March 31, 2013
Land Bank of the Philippines: PHP737 billion (US$18 billion)
as at March 31, 2013
The principal methodology used in these ratings was Global Banks published
in May 2013. Please see the Credit Policy 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 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 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 rating action, and
whose ratings may change as a result of this 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.
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.
Simon Chen
Asst Vice President - Analyst
Financial Institutions Group
Moody's Investors Service Singapore Pte. Ltd.
50 Raffles Place #23-06
Singapore Land Tower
Singapore 48623
Singapore
JOURNALISTS: (852) 3758 -1350
SUBSCRIBERS: (65) 6398-8308
Stephen Long
MD - Financial Institutions
Financial Institutions Group
JOURNALISTS: (852) 3758 -1350
SUBSCRIBERS: (852) 3551-3077
Releasing Office:
Moody's Investors Service Singapore Pte. Ltd.
50 Raffles Place #23-06
Singapore Land Tower
Singapore 48623
Singapore
JOURNALISTS: (852) 3758 -1350
SUBSCRIBERS: (65) 6398-8308
Moody's reviews ratings of four Philippine banks for upgrade