POSSIBLE DOWNGRADE OF TWO ARMENIAN BANKS

Financial Mirror
May 28 2009
Cyprus

Moody’s Investors Service has placed on review for possible downgrade
the global local currency (GLC) deposit ratings of two rated Armenian
banks (ACBA-Credit Agricole and Ardshininvestbank). All other ratings
assigned to these banks were not affected by this action.

Moody’s review of the two banks’ ratings will look at the extent to
which the Armenian government’s ability to provide support to its
banking system, if needed, is converging with the government’s own
debt capacity as a result of the ongoing global economic and credit
crisis. At present, the GLC deposit ratings of ACBA-Credit Agricole
and Ardshininvestbank receive between a one and two notch uplift due
to systemic support. As such, Moody’s will be reassessing the level
of systemic support for the aforementioned Armenian banks to determine
whether the systemic support they receive needs to be further aligned
to the government’s local currency bond rating. Moody’s will review
the specific circumstances of Armenia to determine the appropriate
systemic support for Armenian bank ratings and the implications for
ACBA-Credit Agricole and Ardshininvestbank.

The review is unlikely to lead to a downgrade of more than one notch
in the deposit ratings of the institutions under review.

Meanwhile, the bank financial strength ratings (BFSR) of ACBA-Credit
Agricole and Ardshininvestbank are unaffected as Moody’s believes
that their adequate capitalisation enables them to absorb a level of
stress in line with Moody’s assumptions.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress