BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

16/07/2007

Belarus' Belpromstroibank assigned 'Ba1/NP/E+' ratings - Moody's

MUMBAI (Thomson Financial) - Moody's Investors Service assigned 'Ba1' long-term and not prime short-term local currency deposit ratings and an 'E+' bank financial strength rating (BFSR) to Belarus's JSC Belpromstroibank, with a stable outlook. Moody's said Belpromstroibank's 'E+' BFSR, which translates to a Baseline Credit Assessment of 'B2', is underpinned by its leading market position as the country's third largest bank by assets, good financial indicators and asset quality. However, it is constrained by the bank's fairly weak corporate governance due to the high likelihood of the government's interference in the bank's business, and large albeit declining borrower concentration and growing competition with the other large Belarussian banks, Moody's added.

Moody's said the 'Ba1'/'NP' long-term/short term local currency deposit ratings have a four-notch uplift from the 'B2' baseline credit assessment as they factor in systemic support probability in a stress situation given the bank's 87.2 pct ownership by the Belarus government and its leading position in the country's banking system.

Source:

http://www.sharewatch.com/story.php?storynumber=460036

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