Baku, Azerbaijan, August 15
By Fakhri Vakilov- Trend:
Fitch Ratings has assigned Uzbekistan-based Joint-Stock Commercial National Bank of Uzbekistan Long-Term Foreign- and Local-Currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) of 'BB-'.
According to the Fitch report, the Outlook on the IDRs is Stable, Trend reports with reference to the agency.
The ank’s 'BB-' Long-Term IDRs reflect Fitch's view of a moderate probability of support from the Uzbekistan sovereign (BB-/Stable) in case of need, as reflected in the bank's Support Rating (SR) of '3' and Support Rating Floor (SRF) of 'BB-', read the message.
This view is based on the bank's exclusive policy role where the bank acts as a pension and social distribution agent of the government, and accumulates and manages pension savings for the working population of Uzbekistan and the bank's long-term strategic state ownership with no plans for privatization.
“Both of these considerations have a high influence on our assessment of potential support for the bank,” Fitch said in its report.
Rating actions on National Bank's support-driven IDRs, SR and SRF will likely result from strengthening or weakening of the sovereign's credit profile, mirroring changes to Uzbekistan's sovereign ratings, said the message.
“These ratings could be downgraded in the event that the state's propensity to support bank weakens, for example should its policy role function in the distribution and accumulation of pensions be transferred to another entity,” Fitch reports.
However, the rating agency view this as unlikely, which is reflected in the Stable Outlook, read the message.
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