waltermasoni
Caribbean Trader
Ratings On Three Lebanese Banks Lowered To 'SD' On Revised Deposit Terms And Conditions
- 18-Dec-2019 11:35 EST
- Table of Contents
- On Dec. 4, 2019, Lebanon's central bank issued a circular requesting banks to pay half of the interest due on U.S. dollar-denominated term deposits in the local currency, Lebanese pounds.
- In our view, this latest move, following a number of recent measures, further limits depositors' access to their funds.
- We view these changes as consistent with our definition under our criteria of a restricted default of banks in Lebanon that we rate.
- We are therefore lowering our foreign and local currency issuer credit ratings on Bank Audi, Blom Bank, and Bankmed to 'SD' (selective default), and removing them from CreditWatch negative.
PARIS (S&P Global Ratings) Dec. 18, 2019--S&P Global Ratings today lowered its long-term issuer credit ratings on Bank Audi S.A.L., Blom Bank S.A.L., and Bankmed S.A.L. to 'SD' from 'CCC'. At the same time, we lowered to 'SD' the 'C' short-term issuer credit ratings on Bank Audi and Bankmed.