Moody’s upgrades ratings of 12 Turkish banks

ISTANBUL

Ratings agency Moody’s has said it has upgraded the long-term foreign currency deposit ratings of 12 Turkish banks.

“The rating actions are driven by changes in the local currency [LC] and foreign currency [FC] country ceilings applied to the jurisdictions of the banks following the publication of Moody’s updated Country Ceilings Methodology on Dec. 7,” the ratings agency said in a statement on Dec. 10.

The banks are state lenders Ziraat, Vakıfbank and Halkbank, as well as Akbank, İşbank, Garanti BBVA, Yapı Kredi, QNB Finansbank, Denizbank, Türk Ekonomi Bankası (TEB), HSBC Turkey and Alternatifbank.

The rating actions on a total of 30 banks in Turkey, the Middle East and Pakistan are driven by changes in country ceilings under Moody’s updated country ceilings methodology.

Country ceilings typically indicate the highest rating level that would generally be assigned to the financially strongest obligations of issuers based in a country.

Garanti BBVA’s long-term foreign currency deposit rating was upgraded from Caa1 to B2, while its outlook was kept negative, according to a statement by the bank to the Public Disclosure Platform (KAP) on Dec. 11.

Long-term foreign currency deposit ratings of Akbank, Alternatifbank, TEB, QNB Finansbank, Vakıfbank, Yapı Kredi and Ziraat were also raised from Caa1 to B2.

Meanwhile, ratings of Denizbank, Halkbank, İşbank and HSBC Turkey were upgraded to B3, according to a list announced by Moody’s Investors Service.