Moody’s lifts several Korea financial companies

Moody's Investors Service said it upgraded the foreign-currency long-term ratings of six Korean government-related financial institutions and Korea Securities Finance Corp. to Aa2 from Aa3.

The six entities include the Export-Import Bank of Korea (Kexim), Industrial Bank of Korea, Korea Development Bank, KDB Asia Ltd., Korea Housing Finance Corp. and Korea Student Aid Foundation (Kosaf).

The outlook is stable.

The upgrades follow the upgrade of Korea's sovereign ratings to Aa2 from Aa3, the agency said.

The upgrades reflect the companies’ strong linkages with the government through direct ownership or their important roles in supporting national economic policy, Moody’s said.

Many of these entities also benefit from certain forms of explicit government support, the agency added.

Kexim’s foreign-currency long-term senior unsecured debt rating and foreign-currency backed senior unsecured rating were upgraded to Aa2 from Aa3, along with its foreign-currency long-term senior unsecured medium-term notes and senior unsecured shelf and backed senior unsecured shelf ratings.

Industrial Bank of Korea’s foreign-currency long-term senior unsecured debt and deposit ratings were upgraded to Aa2 from of Aa3, along with its foreign-currency long-term senior unsecured medium-term note rating and long-term counterparty risk assessment to Aa3(cr).

Korea Development Bank’s foreign-currency long-term senior unsecured debt rating was upgraded to Aa2 from Aa3, along with its foreign-currency senior unsecured medium-term notes rating and senior unsecured shelf rating, backed senior unsecured shelf rating and backed senior unsecured debt rating. Its local- and foreign-currency long-term deposit ratings also were upgraded to Aa2 from Aa3 and it long-term counterparty risk assessment to Aa2(cr).

KDB Asia Ltd.’s foreign-currency and local-currency long-term deposit ratings were upgraded Aa2 from Aa3, along with its long-term counterparty risk assessment to Aa2(cr).

Korea Housing Finance’s foreign-currency long-term issuer rating was upgraded to Aa2 from Aa3 and Kosaf’s foreign-currency long-term issuer rating was upgraded to Aa2 from Aa3, along with its long-term counterparty risk assessment to Aa2(cr).

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