Access Bank rated ‘A’ by Fitch
International credit rating agency, Fitch, has upgraded Access Bank Plc, the parent company of Access Bank Ghana, from “A-” with a stable outlook to “A”.
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The bank has operations across major cities and commercial centres in sub-Saharan Africa, the UK, China and UAE.
The move reflects the bank’s improvement in its credit-worthiness over time relative to peers and to the best credits in Nigeria.
“According to Fitch, banks will continue to face multiple threats in the course of 2016, particularly from tight foreign currency liquidity, worsening asset quality and pressure on regulatory capital ratios,” a release issued from Access Bank Ghana head office said, adding that: “However, Access Bank’s Viability Rating (VR) is affirmed, as these risks are to a large extent already captured in the ratings.”
It said the Long-term Issuer Default Ratings (IDR) of the bank remained on Stable Outlook as the rating was driven by its Viability Ratings (VR) and there was no expectation of any material change in the bank’s intrinsic creditworthiness.
The release said: “The report further suggested that Access Bank’s Support Rating Floor (SRF) of “4” reflects the authorities’ unchanged ability and willingness to provide extraordinary support.”
“The agency believes that while there is a limited probability of external support, the authorities have a stronger ability to support the bank’s local currency obligations if required,” it added.
Reacting to the new ratings, the Managing Director of Access Bank Ghana, Mr Dolapo Ogundimu, was quoted in the release as saying that, “This improved rating is another testament to the fact that we are indeed on the right path in becoming the world’s most respected African bank by 2017.”
“It also demonstrates our commitment to best practice in risk management and corporate governance and we believe that this will further boost the confidence of our customers and other stakeholders in our banking operations,” he added.