Moody’s cuts IIB

Moody's Investors Service said it downgraded the International Investment Bank's long-term issuer and senior unsecured debt ratings to Ba1 from A3 and placed IIB's ratings on review for further downgrade.

The joint announcement by four European Union shareholders, Romania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Bulgaria, that they plan to withdraw from the bank triggered the downgrade, the agency said. They accounted for about a third of the bank’s paid-in capital and more than a third of its callable capital at Dec. 31, 2021.

“The four E.U. member states' likely withdrawal will leave Russia (Ca negative) and Hungary (Baa2 stable) as the major shareholders in IIB and increases ownership concentration, implying that even if Russia and the remaining shareholders remained committed to the institutions, the ability to provide support is significantly lower going forward. Moody's considers ownership concentration a governance consideration under its ESG framework. Russia's ability and willingness to support has weakened significantly as reflected in Ca sovereign rating,” the agency said in a press release.

© 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.