Russian rating agency RAEX (Expert RA) has assigned an A+ creditworthiness rating (very high level of creditworthiness) to Expobank, with a positive outlook, the press service of RAEX reported.
Analysts think that the bank's rating is positively influenced by high rates of return (ROE equaled 24.9% from October 1, 2014 through October 1, 2015), high capital adequacy (as of December 1, 2015 N1.0 was equal to 14.8%, while N1.1 and Н1.2 equaled 10.2%), and well-balanced assets and liabilities by duration in the short-term and long-term horizon (as of December 1, 2015 N3 amounted to 197.4%, and N4 came to 39.6%).
"We also expect that a scheduled takeover of the Royal Bank of Scotland in Russia will have a positive impact on Expobank's financial showings and competitive positions, which is determined by a positive rating outlook," RAEX managing director for banking ratings Stanislav Volkov commented.
Meanwhile, the rating is constrained by frequent practice of exploiting pledges of the first and second quality categories while forming loan loss provisions (as of December 1, 2015 the delta between estimated and actual loan loss provisions equaled 17.6%) and the high level of accepted currency risks (as of December 1, 2015 open currency positions in the US dollar against capital equaled 7%), experts pointed out.
