Fitch upgrades 10 Sri Lankan banks’ ratings after sovereign upgrade
Fitch Ratings has upgraded the National Long-Term Ratings of 10 Sri Lankan banks following the recent sovereign rating upgrade and a recalibration of the agency’s Sri Lankan national rating scale.
In addition, Fitch has affirmed the National Long-Term Ratings of five Sri Lankan banks. The recalibration reflects changes in the relative creditworthiness of Sri Lankan issuers after Fitch upgraded Sri Lanka’s Long-Term Local-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to ‘CCC+’ from ‘CCC-’ on December 20, 2024. Notably, Fitch typically does not assign Outlooks to sovereigns rated ‘CCC+’ or below.
National scale ratings are a risk-ranking tool designed to help local investors differentiate the credit risks of issuers within a specific market. The National Ratings of the banks take into account their creditworthiness relative to other issuers in Sri Lanka.
As a result of the recalibration, the National Long-Term Ratings of the aforementioned banks have been upgraded, while their Outlooks remain Stable.
Banks with upgraded ratings
- Bank of Ceylon (BOC) to ‘AA-(lka)’, from ‘A(lka)’
- People’s Bank (Sri Lanka) (PB) to ‘AA-(lka)’, from ‘A(lka)’
- Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC (COMB) to ‘AA-(lka)’, from ‘A(lka)’
- Hatton National Bank PLC (HNB) to ‘AA-(lka)’, from ‘A(lka)’
- Sampath Bank PLC to ‘AA-(lka)’, from ‘A(lka)’
- Seylan Bank PLC to ‘A+(lka)’, from ‘A-(lka)’
- DFCC Bank PLC to ‘A(lka)’, from ‘A-(lka)’
- National Development Bank PLC (NDB) to ‘A(lka)’, from ‘A-(lka)’
- Nations Trust Bank PLC (NTB) to ‘A(lka)’, from ‘A-(lka)’
- Pan Asia Banking Corporation PLC (PABC) to ‘BBB(lka)’, from ‘BBB-(lka)’
Banks with affirmed ratings
- Amana Bank PLC
- Union Bank of Colombo PLC (UB)
- SANASA Development Bank PLC (SDB)
- Housing Development Finance Corporation Bank of Sri Lanka (HDFC)
- Cargills Bank PLC (CBL)
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