BELGIAN-OWNED KBC Bank has had a €5 billion deposit programme, which is being run through its Irish branch, upgraded by credit-ratings agency Moody’s.
The €5 billion Global Euro-Commercial Paper and Certificate of Deposit Programme of KBC Bank Ireland was upgraded to a rating of Prime-1 from its previous Prime-2 rating by Moody’s Investor Services.
Moody’s said that the announcement “follows the establishment of an unconditional and irrevocable guarantee for the programme, provided by the bank’s parent, KBC Bank, acting through its Dublin branch”.
The rating bucks a trend for Irish based banks. The ratings they have received have generally been negative over the past 18 months.
KBC Bank Ireland is rated Baa2/P-2 for bank deposits and senior debt. It has a financial strength rating of D-.
Moody’s last rating on KBC was in April of last year when the bank’s deposit and senior debt ratings were downgraded.
KBC Bank had consolidated assets of €21.1 billion at the end of last year.
The bank made a profit of €42 million in the first half of this year after setting aside €62 million for loan losses compared with a bad-debt charge of €55 million for all of 2008.
Following the introduction of the State bank guarantee last September, deposits in almost all of the overseas retail banks operating in the State fell sharply, with deposits in KBC dropping by 44 per cent to €5 billion.
