News

Standard and Poor's rating agency upgrades BTA rating forecast from "stable" to "positive"

04.12.2006

Standard & Poor's upgraded rating forecast of JSC Bank TuranAlem (BTA) from "stable" to "positive." Meanwhile, BTA credit ratings – "BB" long-term rating and "B" short-term rating – were confirmed.

BTA rating forecast was upgraded due to the fact that the shareholders made the decision to increase bank’s equity capital by US $400 million up to the end of first quarter 2007. Such intention witnesses readiness of shareholders to back up their bank. According to S&P credit analyst Magar Kuyumdjyan, the agency takes into account "BTA passing to less aggressive strategy of growth, improvement of transparency of ownership structure, as well as more complete disclosure of information about subsidiaries in Russia and other CIS countries, which will be fully consolidated by the end of 2007, as expected."

""Positive" forecast reflects comparatively high financial results and bank’s good business infrastructure that allows BTA to profit from current favorable trends in economics and together with the market come to more mature development level," added Kuyumdjyan. The Bank is successfully specializing on diversification of products and sources of financing at the market, margin reduction and diminishing of income from exchange rate differences. Ratings can be upgraded provided that BTA proves its ability to effectively manage its fast growing credit portfolio (especially when operating at risky external markets), diversify risks and solve the problem of basis capital deficiency.