Fitch lifts Shin Kong view to positive

Fitch Ratings said it revised the outlooks on the Shin Kong Group, namely Shin Kong Life Insurance Co. Ltd., its parent Shin Kong Financial Holding Co. Ltd. (SKFHC) and affiliates Shin Kong Bank (SKB) and Shin Kong Securities (SKS) to positive from stable.

In addition, the rating agency said it upgraded SKS' national long-term, national short-term and individual ratings to A-, F2 and D, respectively, and also upgraded SKB's support rating to 2 from 3.

The remainder of the ratings on the group were affirmed.

Following the rating actions, the Shin Kong Group's ratings are as listed below:

SKL: Insurer Financial Strength (IFS) rating BBB+ and national IFS rating AA-; SKFHC: Issuer default rating BBB-, short-term F3, national long-term A and national short-term rating F1; SKB: IDR BBB-, short-term F3, national long-term A, national short-term F1, and individual D and support 2; SKS: IDR BB+, short-term B, and support 3, national long-term A-, national short-term F2 and individual D.

SKFHC's ratings reflect the holding company's improved financial leverage, sound capitalization and good liquidity on a standalone basis, and the satisfactory financial performance of its principal operating subsidiary SKL, which provides good liquidity support to SKFHC through dividend payouts, the agency said.

The offsetting factors are the structural weaknesses of currency and duration mismatches in assets and liabilities faced by SKL and the group's less developed commercial banking franchise.

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