Buenos Aires, December 10, 2010 -- Moody's Investors Service upgraded to Ba2/Not Prime, from B1/Not
Prime, and to Aa3.uy, from A2.uy, the
foreign currency deposit ratings of Banco Itaú Uruguay S.A.
(Itaú Uruguay), Crédit Uruguay Banco S.A.
(Crédit Uruguay), and Lloyds TSB Bank plc (Uruguay) (Lloyds
Uruguay), respectively in the global and national scales.
These rating actions are in response to the upgrade, to Ba2 from
B1, of Uruguay's country ceiling for foreign currency deposits,
which constrains the foreign currency deposit ratings of these banks.
Ina related action, Moody's upgraded the global local currency
deposit rating of Lloyds TSB Bank plc to A3/Prime-2 from Baa2/Prime-2,
in light of the upgrade of the Uruguayan local currency deposit ceiling
to A3, from Baa2, given that the local currency deposit rating
of Lloyds Uruguay is constrained.
Moody's also upgraded to Ba1/Not Prime, from Ba3/Not Prime,
and to Aa2.uy, from A1.uy, the foreign currency
deposit ratings of Banco de la República Oriental del Uruguay (BROU)
and Banco Hipotecario del Uruguay (BHU), on its global and national
scales, respectively. The upgrade of the foreign currency
ratings of the two government-owned banks, BROU and BHU,
reflects the upgrade of the Uruguayan government's foreign currency bond
rating to Ba1, from Ba3. The Uruguayan government fully and
unconditionally guarantees the obligations of both banks.
At the same time, Moody's upgraded to Baa2/Prime-2,
from Baa3/Prime-3, the global local currency deposit ratings
of BROU and BHU, and to Aaa.uy, from Aa1.uy,
their deposit ratings in the Uruguayan national scale. This move
also results from the upgrade of the government bond rating to Ba1 from
Ba3, which serves as reference for the systemic support indicator
for Uruguayan banks.
The following bank ratings were upgraded:
Banco de la República Oriental del Uruguay
- Foreign currency deposit rating to Ba1/NP from Ba3/NP,
stable outlook
- Foreign currency national scale deposit rating to Aa2.uy
from A1.uy
- Local currency deposit rating to Baa2/P-2 from Baa3/P-3,
stable outlook
- Local currency national scale deposit rating to Aaa.uy
from Aa1.uy
Banco Hipotecario del Uruguay
- Foreign currency deposit rating to Ba1/NP from Ba3/NP,
stable outlook
- Foreign currency national scale deposit rating to Aa2.uy
from A1.uy
- Local currency deposit rating to Baa2/P-2 from Baa3/P-3,
stable outlook
- Local currency national scale deposit rating to Aaa.uy
from Aa1.uy
Banco Itaú Uruguay S.A.
- Foreign currency deposit rating to Ba2/NP from B1/NP, stable
outlook
- Foreign currency national scale deposit rating to Aa3.uy
from A2.uy
Crédit Uruguay Banco S.A.
- Foreign currency deposit rating to Ba2/NP from B1/NP, stable
outlook
- Foreign currency national scale deposit rating to Aa3.uy
from A2.uy
Lloyds TSB Bank plc (Uruguay)
- Local currency deposit rating to A3/P-2 from Baa2/P-2,
stable outlook
- Foreign currency deposit rating to Ba2/NP from B1/NP, stable
outlook
- Foreign currency national scale deposit rating to Aa3.uy
from A2.uy
RATINGS RATIONALE
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 August 2010 entitled "Mapping Moody's National Scale
Ratings to Global Scale Ratings."
REGULATORY DISCLOSURES
Information sources used to prepare the credit rating are the following:
parties involved in the ratings, parties not involved in the ratings,
public information, confidential and proprietary Moody's Investors
Service information.
Moody's Investors Service considers the quality of information available
on the issuer or obligation satisfactory for the purposes of maintaining
a credit rating
Moody's adopts all necessary measures so that the information it uses
in assigning a credit rating is of sufficient quality and from sources
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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 ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on Moodys.com
for the last rating action and the rating history.
The date on which some Credit Ratings were first released goes back to
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Investors Service provides a date that it believes is the most reliable
and accurate based on the information that is available to it.
Please see the ratings disclosure page on our website www.moodys.com
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Buenos Aires
Maria Valeria Azconegui
Analyst
Financial Institutions Group
Moody's Latin America, Calificadora de Riesgo
JOURNALISTS: (800) 666 -3506
SUBSCRIBERS: (5411) 4816-2332
New York
M. Celina Vansetti
Senior Vice President
Financial Institutions Group
Moody's Investors Service
JOURNALISTS: 212-553-0376
SUBSCRIBERS: 212-553-1653
Moody's Latin America, Calificadora de Riesgo
Cerrito 1186, 11th fl
Buenos Aires C1010AAX
Argentina
JOURNALISTS: (800) 666 -3506
SUBSCRIBERS: (5411) 4816-2332
Moody's upgrades the deposit ratings of several Uruguayan banks