FIRSTRAND BANK LIMITED - Announcement on Moody's downgrades

Announcement on Moody's downgrades

FirstRand Bank Limited
(Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa)
(Registration No. 1929/001225/06)
Company code: BIFR1
(“FRB” or “the Bank”)


AMENDMENT TO FIRSTRAND BANK LIMITED’S CREDIT RATINGS

Noteholders are referred to the announcement issued by Moody’s
Investors Service (“Moody’s”) on 4 October 2012, in which the
agency announced that it had downgraded by one notch the foreign-
currency deposit ratings of the five South African banks.


Moody’s stated that the rating actions were “prompted by (1) the
weakening of the South African government’s credit profile, as
captured by Moody’s downgrade of South Africa’s government bond
rating to Baa1(negative) from A3(negative)on 27 September 2012;
and (2) the high sovereign exposure of the five largest South
African banks, comprising on average more than 150% relative to
their Tier 1 capital, which links their creditworthiness to that
of the national government and constrains their standalone ratings
to the sovereign rating level.” For further information refer to
the sovereign press release “Moody’s downgrades South Africa’s
government bond rating to Baa1; outlook remains negative”.

The agency also stated that the “negative outlooks on the banks’
ratings reflect the negative outlook on the government rating,
which signals further downside risk in the operating environment
as well as in the government’s capacity to provide systemic
support to the banking system”.


SUMMARY OF RATING ACTIONS:
The BFSR of C-(stable outlook) remains unaffected, equivalent to
a standalone credit assessment of Baa1.

The local-currency deposit ratings of A3/P-2 remain unaffected.
The outlook was changed to negative from stable.

The foreign-currency long-term deposit rating has been downgraded
to Baa1 (negative outlook) from A3 (negative outlook). The
foreign-currency short-term deposit rating of P-2 remains
unaffected.

The national-scale   deposit   ratings   of   Aa2.za/P-1.za   remain
unaffected.

With regards to the Bank’s EMTN programme, the provisional
foreign-currency senior unsecured debt rating of (P)A3 and any
issued foreign-currency senior unsecured             debt   rated    A3   remain
unaffected. The outlook is negative.

The foreign-currency        commercial    paper    rating   of    P-2     remains
unaffected.

With regards to the Bank’s DMTN programme, the provisional local-
currency senior unsecured debt rating of (P)A3, the provisional
local-currency subordinated and junior subordinated debt ratings
of (P)Baa2 and (P)Baa3 respectively, and any issued local-currency
junior subordinated debt rated Baa3(hyb), remain unaffected. The
outlook for all ratings is negative.

The provisional short-term local-currency rating of (P)P-2, the
national-scale senior unsecured debt rating Aa2.za, the national-
scale ratings for subordinated debt and junior subordinated debt
of A1.za and A2.za respectively, and any issued national-scale
junior subordinated debt rated A2.za(hyb) remain unaffected.



Please refer     to   the    Moody’s     press    release   for     any   further
information.


8 October 2012

Debt Sponsor
Rand Merchant Bank (A division of FirstRand Bank Limited)

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