The financial rating agency Moody’s improved this Friday the valuation of several Portuguese banks, after having changed, a week ago, the perspective of the classification of Portugal from stable to positive.
“Consequently, Moody’s changed Portugal’s macro profile from ‘moderate+’ to ‘strong-‘ to reflect, firstly, the improvement in the operating environment for Portuguese banks driven by the country’s economic strength and, secondly, due to the healthier financing conditions of the banks”, says the financial rating agency in a statement.
According to the note, Friday’s actions took into account “a stronger macro profileas well as continued progress in the performance and financial fundamentals of various banks.”
Moody’s has improved the classification of the long-term deposits of Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD) from “Baa2” to “Baa1” and maintained the rating of the senior unsecured debt at “Baa2”.
In case of BCPwere retained ratings long-term deposits at “Baa2” and senior unsecured debt at “Baa3”. For him Santander Totta and BPIMoody’s raised the rating of the senior unsecured debt from “Baa2” to “Baa1”, maintaining the ratings of long-term deposits in “A3”. The agency still held the classification of the Novobanco of long-term deposits at “Ba1”. TO Caixa General de Crédito Agrícola Mutuo i saw the improvement ratings long-term deposits from “Baa3” to “Baa2” and senior unsecured debt from “Ba2” to “Ba1”. In turn, the ratings of the Montepio Bank went from “Ba3” to “Ba2”.
“The positive perspective of ratings of long-term deposits and unsecured senior debt of CGD, BCP, Novo Banco and Banco Montepio (where applicable) reflects Moody’s expectation that improvements in banks’ credit profiles will be sustained over the next 12 to 18 months.” says the agency.
However, Moody’s anticipates “a moderate increase in problem loans in light of the current volatile operating environment and inflationary pressures on household purchasing power”.
However, the financial rating agency adds that “such deterioration is unlikely to significantly weaken the credit profiles of these banks, maintaining the positive outlook.”
Source: Observadora
