Fitch has rated three Georgian banks: Basisbank, Kartu Bank and Halyk Bank.
The agency rated Basisbank and Kartu Bank as B+, and Halyk Bank – as BB. Besides, the agency shifted the forecast of Georgian banks back from stable to negative.
The rating agency Fitch increased Basisbank’s international credit rating. It advanced the bank’s Long-term Issuer Default Rating from B to B+ and affirmed the long-term rating forecast, as stable.
According to Fitch, increase of Basibank’s ratings was preconditioned by its financial indicators, namely, high capitalization and liquidity rates and high quality of credit portfolio.
Fitch states that dollarization indicators of Basisbank and Kartu Bank are quite high and make 68% and 71% accordingly.
The ratings of Halyk Bank are influenced by its Kazakh owner bank’s (Halyk Bank of Kazakhstan) ratings.
Fitch considers that Basisbank’s revenues will increase in parallel with the increase of loans and crediting. Besides, the volume of overdue loans in the bank makes only 2,2%.
At the present stage, Fitch rates seven Georgian banks: TBC Bank, Bank of Georgia, Liberty Bank, ProCredit Bank, Kartu Bank, Basisbank and Halyk Bank. As the two main risks for the Georgian banking sector Fitch names high degree of dollarization and external economic shocks.
