Moody’s Takes Multiple Actions On Five Egyptian Banks

Moody’s Investors Service has today taken actions on five Egyptian banks:

(1) National Bank of Egypt SAE, Banque Misr SAE and Banque Du Caire SAE: Moody’s has lowered these three government-owned banks’ standalone credit assessments to b3 from b2 and confirmed their long-term local-currency deposit ratings at B2, with a negative outlook.

(2) Commercial International Bank (Egypt) SAE: Moody’s has lowered the bank’s standalone credit assessment to b2 from b1, and downgraded the long-term local-currency deposit rating to B2, with a negative outlook, from B1.

(3) Bank of Alexandria SAE: Moody’s has confirmed all the bank’s ratings, including its b2 standalone credit assessment and Ba3 local-currency deposit rating, with a negative outlook.

The rating actions reflect the banks’ high exposures to B2-rated Egyptian government securities and the weak capital buffers of government-owned banks in the context of the challenging domestic operating environment.

The rating actions conclude the review of these ratings that Moody’s initiated on 22 December 2011, and subsequently extended in April 2012.

Today’s actions also follow the conclusion on 12 September 2012 of the review of Egypt’s government bond ratings (see “Moody’s confirms Egypt’s debt rating at B2”).