Fitch takes action on Russian banks

Fitch Ratings said it affirmed the BBB long-term foreign-currency issuer default and senior unsecured debt ratings of four Russian state-owned banks - Vnesheconombank, Sberbank - Savings Bank of the Russian Federation, Bank VTB and Russian Agricultural Bank - with stable outlooks.

At the same time, Fitch revised the outlooks on some Russian foreign-owned banks' BBB+ long-term issuer default and senior unsecured debt ratings to positive from stable. Among these are Rosbank and ZAO Raiffeisenbank.

The rating actions follow Fitch's revision of the outlook on the Russian Federation's long-term issuer default ratings to positive from stable.

The stable outlooks on the state-owned banks reflect the agency's expectation that the banks' ratings will likely not change if the Russian Federation's long-term issuer default ratings are upgraded to BBB+. This in turn reflects Fitch's usual practice of notching the ratings of state-owned banks down from their respective sovereigns, particularly at higher rating levels.

The change in the outlooks of Raiffeisenbank and Rosbank reflects the increased likelihood of an upgrade of Russia's country ceiling of BBB+ following the change in the sovereign outlook, Fitch said.

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