Moody's on Nov. 29 affirmed Bausparkasse Mainz AG's A2 long-term foreign- and local-currency deposit ratings and raised the outlook on the ratings to stable from negative.
At the same time, the agency affirmed the German lender's P-1 short-term foreign- and local-currency deposit ratings, "baa2" baseline and adjusted baseline credit assessments and A2(cr)/P-1(cr) long- and short-term counterparty risk assessments.
Moody's said the outlook revision reflects its expectation that the bank will be able to maintain its very modest level of positive net income in spite of industrywide margin pressure resulting from the extended low interest rate environment. The improved outlook is also driven by the agency's view that the bank will continue to gradually reduce earnings pressure from costly payer swaps and defined benefit pension commitments, Moody's added.
