Fitch Downgrades 24 Turkish Banks; Removes from Rating Watch Negative
20 JUL 2018 12:11 PM ET
Fitch Ratings-London/Frankfurt-20 July 2018: Fitch Ratings has downgraded the Long-Term Foreign Currency Issuer Default Ratings (LTFC IDRs) of 24 Turkish banks and their subsidiaries, in most cases by two notches. The agency has also downgraded the Viability Ratings (VRs) of 12 banks. The banks' Long-Term IDRs have been removed from Rating Watch Negative, but have been assigned Negative Outlooks. A full list of rating actions is available at
www.fitchratings.com or at the link above.
The rating actions follow the downgrade of Turkey's sovereign rating on 13 July 2018 (see Fitch Downgrades Turkey to 'BB'; Outlook Negative at
www.fitchratings.com), which was driven by increased downside risks to macroeconomic stability and the recent deterioration in economic policy credibility.
The downgrades of banks' VRs reflect the increased risks to performance, asset quality, capitalisation and liquidity and funding profiles, following the recent period of market volatility and given the increased risk of a hard landing for the economy and a material deterioration in investor sentiment. Fitch forecasts GDP growth of 4.5% in 2018, underpinned by solid growth in 4M18, but with the likely contraction of the economy for the rest of the year, and 3.6% in 2019.
The downgrades of foreign-owned banks' FC IDRs to 'BB' from 'BBB-' reflect both the sovereign downgrade and Fitch's view that it is no longer appropriate to rate banks above the sovereign in Turkey. This view reflects our belief that, in case of a marked deterioration in Turkey's external finances, the risk of government intervention in the banking sector in the form of capital controls or restrictions will increasingly be equal to that of a sovereign default.
The downgrade and revisions of most state-owned banks' FC IDRs and SRFs to 'BB-' from 'BB+' reflect both the sovereign downgrade and Fitch's view of the weaker ability of the Turkish authorities to provide support in FC given the greater potential for stress in the country's external finances. The banks' Local Currency IDRs are downgraded by one notch and remain in line with the sovereign Local Currency IDR.
When Fitch placed Turkish banks on RWN on 1 June 2018, we had said that any downgrades would likely be limited to one notch. Today, we have downgraded most banks by two notches, due to the downgrade of the sovereign rating. The two-notch downgrades of the banks include one notch for the sovereign downgrade and one notch to reflect our revised view of the appropriate levels of bank ratings relative to the sovereign.
Fitch plans to resolve the RWN on the VRs of small and mid-sized Turkish banks, and on the IDRs driven by these VRs, at a further review in 2H18. These ratings are less closely linked to the sovereign than the ratings of banks covered in this review.