FIRSTRAND BANK LIMITED - Amendment To The Credit Ratings of FirstRand Bank Limited

Amendment To The Credit Ratings of FirstRand Bank Limited

FIRSTRAND BANK LIMITED
(Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa)
(Registration No. 1929/001225/06)
Company code: BIFR1
(FRB or the Bank)


AMENDMENT TO THE CREDIT RATINGS OF FIRSTRAND BANK LIMITED

FirstRand Bank Limited takes note of Moody's Investor Services'
(Moody's) press release and rating actions announced today, which saw
the Bank’s local currency and national scale ratings downgraded by
one notch to Baa1 (from A3) and Aa3.za (from Aa2.za), respectively.
In the announcement, Moody’s indicated that the change to their
credit opinion was prompted, most recently, by the SARB’s actions
with respect to African Bank Limited.

FRB’s long-term foreign currency rating remains unaffected at Baa1
(but has been placed on review) – Moody’s revised local currency
rating and current foreign currency rating (of Baa1) are higher than
Standard and Poor’s ratings (local- and foreign currency rating of
BBB-) and Fitch’s ratings (local- and foreign currency rating of
BBB).

The rating action brings the Bank’s local currency deposit and debt
ratings in line with its Baa1 foreign currency deposit rating, its
standalone credit assessment of baa1 and the Baa1 bond rating
ascribed to the government of South Africa by Moody’s.

FRB confirms that the rating actions announced today are linked to
Moody’s assessment of the South African banking industry as a whole
and is not a reflection of any fundamental changes in FRB's financial
strength, earnings resilience or credit quality.

As stated by Moody’s, “FirstRand reports the strongest capitalisation
among the four largest South African banks, with a common equity Tier
1 ratio of 13.4% as of December 2013, in addition to the lowest level
of NPLs to gross loans at 2.6%”. FRB maintains a strong liquidity
position. The FirstRand Group will be releasing its annual results
for the year ended 30 June 2014 on Tuesday, 9 September 2014.

FRB supports the SARB’s view that South Africa’s banking sector
remains healthy and robust, and there have been no indications that
other South African banks have been affected negatively by the
specific issues around African Bank.
SUMMARY OF RATING ACTIONS:

The local-currency long-term deposit rating has been downgraded to
Baa1 from A3, and placed on review.

The provisional foreign-currency senior unsecured debt rating of the
bank's EMTN programme has been downgraded to (P)Baa1 from (P)A3, and
any issued foreign-currency senior unsecured debt has been downgraded
to Baa1 from A3. Both ratings were placed on review.

The provisional local-currency senior unsecured debt rating of the
bank's domestic MTN programme has been downgraded to (P)Baa1 from
(P)A3 and placed on review.

The national-scale long-term deposit rating and the national-scale
senior unsecured debt rating have been downgraded to Aa3.za from
Aa2.za and placed on review.

All ratings of the Bank and the corresponding long term foreign-
currency ratings were placed on review.



19 August 2014

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

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