| Add to balance / Manage account | User: | Log out |
| Prospect News home > News index > List of issuers B > Headlines for Bank Leumi le-Israel BM > News item |
S&P moves Israeli bank view to negative
S&P said it revised its outlook on Bank Hapoalim BM and Bank Leumi le-Israel BM to negative from stable and affirmed their A issuer ratings and their debt ratings. The agency also revised its outlook for Mizrahi Tefahot Bank Ltd. to negative from stable and affirmed the A- issuer rating and its debt ratings. Finally, S&P changed the outlook on Israel Discount Bank Ltd. to negative from positive and affirmed its BBB+ ratings.
On Oct. 24, the agency changed its outlook on Israel to negative from stable, citing the ongoing conflict triggered by Hamas’ attack on Israel.
“We think the development of the conflict, its duration, and the effects on Israel's economy and business confidence might have negative consequences for the banking sector,” S&P said in a press release.
“In our view, Israeli banks face increasing risks with sound credit fundamentals. We think that Israeli banks are facing this conflict with strong profitability and capitalization, healthy asset quality metrics, and ample liquidity buffers, coupled with stable largely domestic deposit bases.
“So far, we have not witnessed any deposit volatility and seen only limited drawdowns on liquidity lines from corporates. The domestic bond market has also continued to operate with a limited price effect on new issuances. In addition, the government is engineering a sizable support package to affected populations and businesses,” the agency said.
The negative outlooks on all Israeli banks reflect the view that the banks' creditworthiness might weaken if economic conditions worsen. “They also factor in the high level of uncertainty surrounding the negative effects of the conflict on the sector,” S&P said.
© 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.