Moody’s downgrades 2 Nigeria banks

Moody’s Investors Service said it concluded a ratings review on three Nigerian banks by confirming the standalone baseline credit assessments of two banks, downgrading the supported long-term ratings of two banks and confirming the supported long-term ratings of one of the banks.

The ratings actions follow the downgrade of the Nigerian government’s issuer rating to B1 from Ba3, Moody’s said.

The agency said it confirmed Access Bank plc’s standalone ratings at B2 and Sterling Bank plc’s standalone ratings at B2 as the rating agency expects their standalone credit profiles to remain resilient despite challenging operating conditions.

Moody’s also said it downgraded Access Bank’s local-currency deposit rating to B1 from Ba3 and its foreign-currency deposit rating to B2 from B1.

The agency also said it downgraded Bank of Industry’s issuer rating to B1 from Ba3.

These downgrades reflect the weakened capacity of the government of Nigeria to provide support to the banks in case of need, as indicated by the downgrade of Nigeria, Moody’s said.

All three banks now have stable outlooks, the agency added.

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