Moody's upgrades Fortis

Moody's Investors Service said it upgraded all long-term ratings of Fortis by one notch, including the issuer ratings of Fortis NV and Fortis SA/NV to Aa3 from A1; the guaranteed senior debt of Fortis Finance NV, Fortis Utrecht NV and Fortis Insurance NV to Aa3 from A1; the guaranteed subordinated debt of Fortis Finance and Fortis Utrecht to A1 from A2; the guaranteed equity-linked securities of Fortfinlux SA to A3 from Baa1; and the guaranteed preferred debt of Fortis Hybrid Financing, Fortis Floating Rate Capital Funding Trust, Fortis Fixed Rate Quarterly Capital Funding Trust, Fortis Fixed Rate Annual Capital Funding Trust and Fortis Capital Funding LP to A2 from A3.

The outlook is stable.

The upgrade reflects the agency's reassessment of systemic or government support to Fortis' banking operations in the context of the highly integrated nature of Fortis' banking and insurance operations, particularly in the Benelux countries, Moody's said.

The upgrade is also connected with the implementation of Moody's bank financial strength ratings methodology and the application of joint default analysis for parental and systemic support into bank deposit and debt ratings and the subsequent rating changes in the deposit ratings of Fortis' main banking subsidiaries to Aaa from Aa3, the agency 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.