S&P Global Market Intelligence presents a daily summary of ratings actions on European, Middle Eastern and African financial institutions and economies.
EUROPE
* DBRS upgraded Millennium BCP's long- and short-term issuer ratings to BBB(low)/R-2 (middle) from BB(high)/R-3, with stable trends on the ratings, reflecting the Portuguese bank's sound funding position and acceptable capital ratios. The agency also upgraded the bank's long- and short-term deposit ratings to BBB/R-2 (high) and short-term debt rating to R-2(middle). Moreover, the bank's intrinsic assessment was raised to BBB(low), while its support assessment remains unchanged at SA3.
* Moody's upgraded Santander Bank Polska SA's long- and short-term bank deposits to A2/P-1 from A3/P-2 and senior unsecured regular debt to A3 from Baa1. The rating agency changed the outlook on the Banco Santander SA unit's long-term bank deposits and senior unsecured debt rating to stable from positive. The agency upgraded the bank's long-term counterparty risk rating to A1 from A2 and the long-term counterparty risk assessment to A1(cr) from A2(cr). The short-term counterparty risk rating and risk assessment were affirmed at P-1 and P-1(cr), respectively.
* ACRA affirmed PJSC Metkombank's BBB-(RU) credit rating, with a stable outlook.
* DBRS upgraded Caixa Geral de Depósitos SA's long- and short-term issuer ratings to BBB/R-2(high) from BBB(low)/R-2(middle), and changed the trends to stable from positive on the ratings. The agency also upgraded the bank's long-term senior debt rating to BBB, short-term debt rating to R-2(high), and long-term critical obligations rating to A(low), and confirmed its BBB/R-2(high) long- and short-term deposit ratings and R-1(low) short-term critical obligations rating. The trends on the deposit ratings are positive, while the trends on the other ratings are stable.
* Fitch Ratings upgraded the long-term issuer default ratings of CYBG PLC units Clydesdale Bank PLC and Virgin Money PLC to A- from BBB+ and maintained the ratings on Rating Watch Negative. The U.K. units' short-term issuer default ratings were affirmed at F2. The rating agency also upgraded the two companies' derivative counterparty ratings to A-(dcr) from BBB+(dcr).
* Fitch affirmed the long- and short-term issuer default ratings of UniCredit Bulbank AD at BBB-/F3, with a negative outlook on the long-term rating. It also affirmed United Bulgarian Bank AD's long- and short-term issuer default ratings at A-/F1, with a stable outlook on the long-term rating. The viability ratings of Bulbank were affirmed at "bb+" and United Bulgarian Bank at "bb". Additionally, Fitch affirmed First Investment Bank AD long- and short-term issuer default ratings at B/B and viability rating at "b".
* Moody's downgraded the long-term counterparty risk assessments of Sparebanken Sør, Sparebanken Vest, SpareBank 1 Nord-Norge, SpareBank 1 Østlandet, SpareBank 1 SR-Bank ASA and SpareBank 1 SMN to A1(cr) from Aa3(cr) and their counterparty risk ratings to A1 from Aa3. Additionally, Moody's downgraded DNB Bank ASA's long-term counterparty risk assessment to Aa2(cr) from Aa1(cr) and long-term counterparty risk rating to Aa2 from Aa1. Moody's also downgraded SpareBank 1 Boligkreditt AS' long-term counterparty risk assessment to A2(cr) from A1(cr) and long-term counterparty risk rating to A2 from A1.
* Fitch upgraded the long-term foreign- and local-currency issuer default ratings of Bank Saint-Petersburg PJSC and PAO Credit Bank of Moscow to BB from BB-, with a stable outlook on the long-term ratings, while affirming their short-term foreign-currency issuer default ratings at B. The agency also upgraded the Bank Saint Petersburg's viability rating to "bb" from "bb-," while that of Credit Bank of Moscow to "bb-" from "b+". Fitch also affirmed PJSC Sovcombank's long-term foreign- and local-currency issuer default ratings at BB and revised the outlook on the ratings to positive from stable.
MIDDLE EAST
* Fitch assigned BBB+ support rating floors to Gulf International Bank BSC and unit Gulf International Bank (UK) Ltd. The rating agency affirmed both the BBB+/F2 long- and short-term issuer default ratings of the parent company and subsidiary. The outlook on the long-term ratings is stable. Both entities' 2 support ratings were affirmed, while Bahrain-based Gulf International Bank's "bbb-" viability rating remained unaffected. At the same time, Fitch assigned Ahli United Bank KSCP and unit Ahli United Bank (UK) Plc support rating floors of BBB- and BBB+, respectively.
AFRICA
* Fitch Ratings placed KCB Group PLC's B+ long-term issuer default rating and on Rating Watch Negative. The agency also placed the Kenyan lender's AA(ken)/F1+(ken) national long- and short-term ratings and "b+" viability rating on Rating Watch Negative. The group's B short-term issuer default rating, 5 support rating and No Floor support rating floor were affirmed. Additionally, the rating agency placed KCB Group unit KCB Bank Kenya Ltd.'s "b+" viability rating on Rating Watch Negative as well.
Links are current as of publication time, and we are not responsible if those links are unavailable later.
This S&P Global Market Intelligence news article may contain information about credit ratings issued by S&P Global Ratings. Descriptions in this news article were not prepared by S&P Global Ratings.