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Fitch: PASHA Bank receives support from Azerbaijan authorities

07 September 2016 08:54 (UTC +04:00)

Baku - APA-Economics. Fitch Ratings has affirmed Azerbaijan-based Pasha Bank's (PB) Long-Term Issuer-Default Ratings (IDRs) at 'BB-'.

The Outlook on the bank is Negative. The agency has also affirmed PB's Viability Rating (VR) at 'b+'.

The agency says PB's IDRs, SR and SRF are underpinned by the moderate probability of support from the Azerbaijan authorities, in case of need. PB's VR reflects the bank's solid capitalisation, ample liquidity. The Negative Outlook on PB's IDR mirrors that on the sovereign. The support-driven IDRs on the banks will likely be downgraded in case of the sovereign and the Country Ceiling being downgraded. Conversely, a revision of the Outlook on the sovereign to Stable will likely result in a similar action on the banks. Downside pressure on the banks' IDRs could also result from a potential weakening of support from the sovereign (for PB) or from IFI shareholders (for AB), although Fitch views this unlikely in the near-term.