Frankfurt am Main, April 05, 2022 -- Moody's Investors Service (Moody's) has today upgraded the long-term deposit ratings of Alpha Bank Romania S.A. (ABR) to Ba1 from Ba2, and changed the outlook on these to stable from positive. Concurrently, Moody's has upgraded the bank's Baseline Credit Assessment (BCA) and Adjusted BCA to ba3 from b1, its Counterparty Risk Assessment (CR Assessment) to Baa3(cr)/P-3(cr) from Ba1(cr)/NP(cr) and its Counterparty Risk Ratings (CRRs) to Baa3/P-3 from Ba1/NP. Further, the rating agency affirmed the short-term deposit ratings at NP.
Today's rating action was triggered by the rating action on ABR's parent bank, Alpha Bank S.A. (Alpha Bank). For the rating action on the Greek parent see "Moody's upgrades five Greek banks and maintains positive outlook", dated 30 March 2022 (https://www.moodys.com/research/--PR_463573).
A full list of affected ratings is provided at the end of the press release.
RATINGS RATIONALE
-- UPGRADE OF BCA
The upgrade of ABR's BCA to ba3 from b1 reflects the recent upgrade of its parent bank's BCA to b2 from b3, as a the result of an improvement in parent Alpha Bank's credit profile. The stronger creditworthiness of Alpha Bank reduces risks for its subsidiary ABR, which stem contagion risks because of existing financial and operational linkages between ABR and Alpha Bank. These linkages had constrained the BCA of ABR, which absent of contagion risk considerations was already commensurate with a higher BCA.
ABR's BCA reflects its unchanged strong capitalisation, improving loan book quality evidenced by declining non-performing loans, stronger liquidity buffers and robust growth in customer deposits that have also translated into reduced reliance on intragroup funding. The BCA incorporates high asset risks, stemming from its sizeable exposure to the cyclical commercial real estate sector and foreign currency lending, weaker-than-peers profitability metrics, as well as a high share of foreign currency deposits and sizeable exposures to more confidence-sensitive corporate deposits.
-- UPGRADE OF RATINGS
The upgrade of ABR's long-term deposit ratings to Ba1 from Ba2 reflects the upgrade of the bank's BCA to ba3 from b1, unchanged two notches of uplift from Moody's Advanced Loss Given Failure (LGF) analysis, which indicates a very low loss given failure for deposits and low government support resulting in no rating uplift given the bank's small domestic market share and relatively low importance to the Romanian banking system.
The upgrade of ABR's CRRs and CR Assessment also follows the upgrade of the BCA and reflects an unchanged loss severity for these instrument classes as indicated by Moody's Advanced LGF analysis.
-- OUTLOOK CHANGE TO STABLE
The stable outlook reflects Moody's expectation that ABR's intrinsic financial strength remains broadly unchanged, that a significant strengthening of its creditworthiness is unlikely over the outlook horizon, and that its liability structure will not materially change, such that the loss given failure results remain at current level.
FACTORS THAT COULD LEAD TO AN UPGRADE OR DOWNGRADE OF THE RATINGS
ABR's ratings could be upgraded following a combination of ABR sustainably improving its operating performance including improvements in profitability and asset quality and a further strengthening in Alpha Bank's credit profile as evident by an upgrade of Alpha Bank's BCA. A higher uplift resulting from Moody's Advanced LGF analysis owing to additional volume of senior or subordinated instruments, which would increase the loss-absorption buffer for depositors translating into lower losses in resolution, could also result in an upgrade of the bank's deposit ratings.
ABR's ratings could be downgraded following a weakness in its standalone credit profile that may result from deteriorating operating conditions placing pressure on its asset quality, capital and profitability metrics, or if Alpha Bank's BCA were to be downgraded and thereby increasing contagion risks were to constrain ABR's BCA. The bank's long-term deposit ratings could also be downgraded due to changes in its liability structure, such that it was to reduce the loss-absorption buffer for depositors, resulting in a lower uplift from Moody's Advanced LGF analysis.
LIST OF AFFECTED RATINGS
Issuer: Alpha Bank Romania S.A.
..Upgrades:
....Long-term Counterparty Risk Ratings, upgraded to Baa3 from Ba1
....Short-term Counterparty Risk Ratings, upgraded to P-3 from NP
....Long-term Bank Deposits, upgraded to Ba1 from Ba2, outlook changed to Stable from Positive
....Long-term Counterparty Risk Assessment, upgraded to Baa3(cr) from Ba1(cr)
....Short-term Counterparty Risk Assessment, upgraded to P-3(cr) from NP(cr)
....Baseline Credit Assessment, upgraded to ba3 from b1
....Adjusted Baseline Credit Assessment, upgraded to ba3 from b1
..Affirmations:
....Short-term Bank Deposits, affirmed NP
..Outlook Action:
....Outlook changed to Stable from Positive
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 solicited. 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.
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The Global Scale Credit Rating on this Credit Rating Announcement was issued by one of Moody's affiliates outside the UK and is endorsed by Moody's Investors Service Limited, One Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London E14 5FA under the law applicable to credit rating agencies in the UK. Further information on the UK endorsement status and on the Moody's office that issued the credit rating is available on www.moodys.com.
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Christina Holthaus
Analyst
Financial Institutions Group
Moody's Deutschland GmbH
An der Welle 5
Frankfurt am Main, 60322
Germany
JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456
Client Service: 44 20 7772 5454
Constantinos Kypreos
Senior Vice President
Financial Institutions Group
JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456
Client Service: 44 20 7772 5454
Releasing Office:
Moody's Deutschland GmbH
An der Welle 5
Frankfurt am Main, 60322
Germany
JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456
Client Service: 44 20 7772 5454