Moody's upgrades BBVA

Moody's Investors Service said it upgraded Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, SA's issuer rating to Baa2 from Baa3, senior bonds to Baa2 from Baa3 and subordinated bonds to Baa3 from Ba1 and changed the outlook to positive from stable.

The agency also upgraded the senior bonds issued by BBVA Global Markets BV, BBVA Senior Finance, SA, BBVA U.S. Senior, SA and BCL International Finance Ltd. to Baa2 from Baa3; the subordinated bonds issued by BBVA Capital Funding Ltd., BBVA Subordinated Capital, SA Unipersonal and BBVA Global Finance Ltd. to Baa3 from Ba1; and the noncumulative preferred stock issued by BBVA Capital Finance, SA Unipersonal, BBVA International Ltd. and BBVA International Pref SA Unipersonal to Ba3 (hyb) from B1 (hyb).

The agency said the rating actions reflect the improvement in the Spanish government's creditworthiness, reflected in Moody's upgrade of Spain's government bond rating to Baa2 from Baa3 and the concurrent change of the outlook on Spain's rating to positive from stable on Feb. 21, and BBVA's resilient credit fundamentals underpinned by its stable revenue-generation capacity, its high risk-adjusted profitability and its capacity to generate capital and liquidity in times of stress.

The positive outlook reflects the positive outlook on Spain's debt rating and thus the potential positive impact on BBVA's ratings if Spain's ratings were to be upgraded, Moody's added.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.