Fitch affirms Banque Ouest Africaine

Fitch affirmed Banque Ouest Africaine de Developpement's long-term issuer default rating at BBB

The outlook is negative.

The bank’s BBB rating is primarily driven by extraordinary support from key shareholders, the Banque Centrale des Etats de l'Afrique de l'Ouest (47%) and Cote d'Ivoire (6%).

Fitch assesses the capacity of the key shareholders to provide support at 'bbb-', taking into account their average credit quality.

The negative outlook reflects the risk of weakening support from the bank's shareholders.

The outlook on France's sovereign long-term issuer default rating (AA) is negative. Given the role played by France in the CFA franc monetary arrangement as the guarantor of the convertibility of the currency against the euro, a downgrade of France's rating to AA- would affect our assessment of the credit quality of the bank's largest shareholder.

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