London, 17 April 2018 -- Moody's Investors Service (Moody's) today upgraded West Bromwich Building
Society's (West Brom's) long-term deposit rating to Ba3 from B1
and maintained the positive outlook. In today's rating action,
Moody's also upgraded West Brom's baseline credit assessment (BCA)
and adjusted BCA to ba3 from b1, upgraded the Counterparty Risk
Assessment (CR Assessment) to Baa3(cr)/Prime-3(cr) from Ba1(cr)/Not
Prime(cr), and affirmed the short-term deposit ratings at
Not Prime. Furthermore, the rating on West Brom's Permanent
Interest Bearing Shares (PIBS) was affirmed at Ca(hyb) on an expected
loss basis.
A list of affected ratings is provided at the end of this press release.
RATINGS RATIONALE
This rating action follows the 10 April 2018 conclusion of West Brom's
liability management exercise (LME), launched on 8 March 2018.
Holders of 100% of the Profit Participating Deferred Shares (PPDS)
and 88.15% of the PIBS accepted the exchange and tender
offer, resulting in a modernised capital structure that mainly consists
of Core Capital Deferred Shares (CCDS), which are common equity
Tier 1 (CET1) capital compliant under the European Union Capital Requirements
Regulation (CRR), and GBP22.5 million Tier 2 notes.
An aggregate nominal amount of GBP8.9 million PIBS will remain
outstanding.
The upgrade of West Brom's BCA to ba3 reflects that the LME has
removed uncertainty regarding the eligibility of West Brom's CET1
capital, resulting in a good capital position that Moody's
expects will remain stable over the next 12 months. The Society
estimates that its CET1 ratio would have remained at 14.1%
if the LME had been completed on 30 September 2017, its last reporting
date. The upgrade also reflects Moody's expectation that
West Brom's asset quality will continue to improve as their legacy
commercial lending runs off and new prime residential mortgage lending
grows.
The upgrade of West Brom's long-term deposit ratings to Ba3 takes
into account (i) its ba3 BCA; (ii) the results of Moody's Advanced
Loss Given Failure (LGF) analysis; and (iii) a low probability of
government support.
The affirmation of the Ca(hyb) PIBS rating reflects that West Brom is
unlikely to pay interest to the remaining PIBS holders over the next two
years and that the earliest the notes can be called is 2021.
OUTLOOK
The positive outlook reflects Moody's view that further positive
developments to West Brom's intrinsic credit strength are likely over
the next 12-18 months. Problem loans declined to 5.4%
of gross loans at 31 March 2017 from 7.2% a year earlier,
its legacy commercial exposures are declining, below GBP500 million
at 30 September 2017 compared to over GBP1.5 billion in 2008,
and its core owner occupied residential mortgage book is now growing,
with 11% growth during the six months to 30 September 2017.
In January 2018, West Brom also accessed the wholesale funding market
for the first time since 2013, with a GBP350 million Residential
Mortgage-Backed securitisation (RMBS). The RMBS issuance
is credit positive as it demonstrates market access, although Moody's
continues to view West Brom's access to the unsecured wholesale market
as limited. For more details on the RMBS issuance, please
see "Moody's assigns definitive credit rating to prime UK RMBS notes issued
by Kenrick No. 3 plc" (accessible through the following link:
https://www.moodys.com/research/Moodys-assigns-definitive-credit-rating-to-prime-UK-RMBS-notes--PR_378593).
WHAT COULD CHANGE THE RATINGS UP
West Brom's BCA could be upgraded as a result of (i) continued improvements
in its asset quality metrics; (ii) strengthened capitalisation;
and/or (iii) a track record of stable profitability, demonstrating
a sustainable business model. A positive change in the Society's
BCA would likely lead to an upgrade of its deposit ratings. West
Brom's deposit ratings could also be upgraded if, after regaining
access to unsecured wholesale markets, the building society were
to issue significant amounts of senior unsecured debt and/or subordinated
long-term debt, reducing Moody's' expected loss-given-failure
for depositors.
The PIBS could be upgraded if West Brom resumes interest payments or Moody's
expects the remaining holders to receive materially higher value than
indicated by the current market price.
WHAT COULD CHANGE THE RATINGS DOWN
West Brom's BCA could be downgraded if the Society's asset quality or
capital position deteriorates. A downward movement in the BCA of
the Society would result in a downgrade to its deposit ratings.
West Brom's deposit ratings could also be downgraded in response to a
reduction in the volume of debt or deposits that could be bailed in,
which would increase loss-given-failure for depositors.
The probability of default for West Brom's counterparty obligations may
increase if the Society were to grow its balance sheet without commensurate
increases in bail-in-able debt or deposits. In this
event, Moody's may reflect such higher default risk with a downgrade
of the CR Assessment.
LIST OF AFFECTED RATINGS
Issuer: West Bromwich Building Society
Upgrades:
....LT Bank Deposits, Upgraded to Ba3
from B1, Outlook remains Positive
....Adjusted Baseline Credit Assessment,
Upgraded to ba3 from b1
....Baseline Credit Assessment, Upgraded
to ba3 from b1
....LT Counterparty Risk Assessment,
Upgraded to Baa3(cr) from Ba1(cr)
....ST Counterparty Risk Assessment,
Upgraded to P-3(cr) from NP(cr)
Affirmations:
....ST Bank Deposits, Affirmed NP
....Pref. Stock Non-cumulative,
Affirmed Ca (hyb)
Outlook Actions:
....Outlook, Remains Positive
PRINCIPAL METHODOLOGY
The principal methodology used in these ratings was Banks published in
September 2017. Please see the Rating Methodologies 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 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.
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.
Aleksander Henskjold
Analyst
Financial Institutions Group
Moody's Investors Service Ltd.
One Canada Square
Canary Wharf
London E14 5FA
United Kingdom
JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456
Client Service: 44 20 7772 5454
Nicholas Hill
MD - Banking
Financial Institutions Group
JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456
Client Service: 44 20 7772 5454
Releasing Office:
Moody's Investors Service Ltd.
One Canada Square
Canary Wharf
London E14 5FA
United Kingdom
JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456
Client Service: 44 20 7772 5454