ABSA BANK LIMITED - Rating Adjustment by Moody's

Rating Adjustment by Moody's

Absa Bank Limited
(Incorporated with limited liability in South Africa under registration number
1986/004794/06)
("Absa Bank")
Bond Issuer Code: BIABS

ABSA BANK’S           RATING       ADJUSTMENT           BY    MOODY’S        INVESTOR     SERVICES
("MOODY’S")

Notice is hereby given in terms of section 4.25 of the JSE Debt Listings Requirements that Moody’s
downgraded Absa Bank’s local-currency long-term deposit rating by one notch to Baa1 from A3 on 19
August 2014. Absa Bank’s long term national scale deposit rating was also downgraded to Aa3.za.
These actions were in line with other large South African banks.

Please take note of the following rating adjustments pertaining to Absa Bank:

-     Senior unsecured debt has been downgraded to Baa1 from A3.
-     The local-currency long-term deposit rating has been downgraded to Baa1 from A3, and placed
      on review for downgrade.
-     The provisional foreign-currency senior unsecured EMTN programme rating has been
      downgraded to (P)Baa1 from (P)A3, and placed on review for downgrade.
-     The national-scale long-term deposit rating has been downgraded to Aa3.za from Aa2.za, and
      placed on review for downgrade.
-     The following ratings of the bank were also placed on review for downgrade:
-     The standalone bank financial strength rating (BFSR) of C-, equivalent to a baseline credit
      assessment (BCA) of baa1.
-     The foreign-currency deposit ratings of Baa1/P-2.
-     The local-currency short-term deposit rating of P-2, as well as the national-scale short-term
      deposit rating of P-1.za.
-     The provisional foreign-currency legacy subordinated rating of (P) Baa2, and junior
      subordinated EMTN.

The downgrade was prompted by the actions taken by the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) in
response to the abrupt loss of creditor confidence in African Bank Limited.

As highlighted by Moody’s, the ratings action is based on their assessment of the industry and the
South African economy as a whole, and it is not specific to Absa Bank. Absa supports the South
Africa Reserve Bank’s view that South Africa’s banking sector remains healthy.

Barclays Africa Group maintains strong Basel III capital ratios - at 30 June 2014, a core equity tier 1
(CET 1) ratio of 11.8%, Tier 1 capital ratio of 12.5% and a total capital ratio of 14.6%. Absa Bank’s
capital ratios at 30 June 2014 were 10.1% on a CET 1 basis, a Tier 1 of 10.9% and a total capital
adequacy ratio of 13.9%. The overall liquidity position of Barclays Africa Group remains robust with
R180.7 billion in liquidity reserves available as at 30 June 2014.

Both capital and liquidity ratios are well in excess of regulatory requirements.

Absa Banks’ credit ratings are available at www.absa.co.za and www.barclaysafrica.com.
Johannesburg
20 August 2014

Debt Sponsor
Absa Bank Limited (acting through its Corporate and Investment Banking division)

Date: 20/08/2014 03:33:00 Produced by the JSE SENS Department. The SENS service is an information dissemination service administered by the JSE Limited ('JSE'). 
The JSE does not, whether expressly, tacitly or implicitly, represent, warrant or in any way guarantee the truth, accuracy or completeness of
 the information published on SENS. The JSE, their officers, employees and agents accept no liability for (or in respect of) any direct, 
indirect, incidental or consequential loss or damage of any kind or nature, howsoever arising, from the use of SENS or the use of, or reliance on,
 information disseminated through SENS.