Fitch Ratings has placed the National Long-Term Ratings of 13 Sri Lankan banks on Rating Watch Negative (RWN). The banks are:
-People’s Bank (Sri Lanka) (PB)
-Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC
-Hatton National Bank PLC
-Sampath Bank PLC
-National Development Bank PLC
-DFCC Bank PLC
-Seylan Bank PLC
-Nations Trust Bank PLC
-Pan Asia Banking Corporation PLC
-Union Bank of Colombo PLC
-Amana Bank PLC
-SANASA Development Bank PLC
-Housing Development Finance Corporation Bank of Sri Lanka (HDFC)
A full list of rating actions is at the end of this rating action commentary. Fitch will review the National Ratings of Sri Lankan financial institutions that are not mentioned in this commentary separately. Fitch has also taken rating action on Bank of Ceylon; please see Fitch Places Bank of Ceylon on Rating Watch Negative.
More from Fitch Ratings:
KEY RATING DRIVERS
The RWN reflects heightened near-term downside risk stemming from constrained access to foreign-currency funding and the resulting indications of stress experienced by the banks in the system. This risk is exacerbated by the sovereign’s credit profile (Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR): CC, Long-Term Local-Currency IDR: CCC) and the ensuing risks to the stability of the financial system. We believe mounting currency stress increases the likelihood of restrictions being imposed on banks’ ability to service their obligations in foreign currency – excluding HDFC, as the bank does not have any outstanding foreign-currency obligations – and local currency in the event of a sovereign default, or prior, should confidence deteriorate.We aim to resolve the RWN in the next six months, depending on the evolution of the banks’ funding and liquidity positions, which could result in multiple notch downgrades.
We believe the domestic banks’ foreign-currency funding and liquidity positions are prone to sudden changes amid already weak creditor sentiment. Loan and deposit dollarisation for the sector was at 18% of total loans and 17% of total deposits as at end-2021.Sri Lanka’s operating environment remains challenging and our negative outlook on the score reflects the significant near- to medium-term downside risk presented by the weakening sovereign credit profile, as spillover effects could damage the country’s economic performance. This has lead us to revise our 2022 outlook on the banking sector to ‘Deteriorating’, from ‘Neutral’. Macroeconomic challenges are likely to be greater than we initially anticipated which could result in a sharp deterioration in asset quality and impaired profitability metrics that expose the banks to capital deficiencies.
For more on the above visit Fitch Rating.
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Fitch Ratings has placed the National Long-Term Ratings of 13 Sri Lankan banks on Rating Watch Negative (RWN). The banks are:
-People’s Bank (Sri Lanka) (PB)
-Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC
-Hatton National Bank PLC
-Sampath Bank PLC
-National Development Bank PLC
-DFCC Bank PLC
-Seylan Bank PLC
-Nations Trust Bank PLC
-Pan Asia Banking Corporation PLC
-Union Bank of Colombo PLC
-Amana Bank PLC
-SANASA Development Bank PLC
-Housing Development Finance Corporation Bank of Sri Lanka (HDFC)
A full list of rating actions is at the end of this rating action commentary. Fitch will review the National Ratings of Sri Lankan financial institutions that are not mentioned in this commentary separately. Fitch has also taken rating action on Bank of Ceylon; please see Fitch Places Bank of Ceylon on Rating Watch Negative.
More from Fitch Ratings:
KEY RATING DRIVERS
The RWN reflects heightened near-term downside risk stemming from constrained access to foreign-currency funding and the resulting indications of stress experienced by the banks in the system. This risk is exacerbated by the sovereign’s credit profile (Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR): CC, Long-Term Local-Currency IDR: CCC) and the ensuing risks to the stability of the financial system. We believe mounting currency stress increases the likelihood of restrictions being imposed on banks’ ability to service their obligations in foreign currency – excluding HDFC, as the bank does not have any outstanding foreign-currency obligations – and local currency in the event of a sovereign default, or prior, should confidence deteriorate.We aim to resolve the RWN in the next six months, depending on the evolution of the banks’ funding and liquidity positions, which could result in multiple notch downgrades.
We believe the domestic banks’ foreign-currency funding and liquidity positions are prone to sudden changes amid already weak creditor sentiment. Loan and deposit dollarisation for the sector was at 18% of total loans and 17% of total deposits as at end-2021.Sri Lanka’s operating environment remains challenging and our negative outlook on the score reflects the significant near- to medium-term downside risk presented by the weakening sovereign credit profile, as spillover effects could damage the country’s economic performance. This has lead us to revise our 2022 outlook on the banking sector to ‘Deteriorating’, from ‘Neutral’. Macroeconomic challenges are likely to be greater than we initially anticipated which could result in a sharp deterioration in asset quality and impaired profitability metrics that expose the banks to capital deficiencies.
For more on the above visit Fitch Rating.
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