AFRICAN BANK INVESTMENTS LIMITED - Moodys affirms African Banks credit ratings, outlook changed to negative from stable

Moody’s affirms African Bank’s credit ratings, outlook changed to negative from stable

AFRICAN BANK INVESTMENTS LIMITED
(Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa)
(Registered bank controlling company)
(Registration number 1946/021193/06)
Ordinary share code: ABL ISIN: ZAE000030060
Preference share code: ABLP ISIN: ZAE000065215
(“ABIL”)

and

AFRICAN BANK LIMITED
(Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa)
(Registered bank)
(Registration number 1975/002526/06)
Company code: BIABL
(“African Bank” or “the Bank”)


Moody’s affirms African Bank’s credit ratings, outlook changed to negative from stable

ABIL announces that Moody’s Investors Service (“Moody’s” or “the Agency”) has affirmed African Bank’s global
senior debt and deposit ratings of Baa3/Prime-3 and local national scale issuer ratings of A2.za/P-1.za. The
outlook for the ratings was changed to negative from stable.

Moody’s said that African Bank originated credit has remained within their expectation and was not the driver for
this change in outlook. The Agency however indicated a concern that, based on ABIL’s interim results released
in May 2013, asset quality on furniture-related credit may deteriorate more than they had initially anticipated.
This, together with potentially weakening profitability on the back of lower yields and increasing provisioning
requirements precipitated a downgrade in their outlook for African Bank. The Bank’s high capital levels continued
to support the current ratings.

Commenting on the outlook downgrade Leon Kirkinis, ABIL’s chief executive, noted that the Bank was confident
that it has already implemented the necessary risk reduction measures and has continued to strengthen the
provisioning buffers, to maintain and grow the business on a healthy and sustainable basis.

Midrand
03 July 2013

Sponsor
RAND MERCHANT BANK (A division of FirstRand Bank Limited)

 

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