Fitch Ratings-London/Paris/Tunis - Fitch Ratings has today assigned Attijariwafa Bank ("AWB") ratings of foreign and local currency Issuer Default 'BB' with Stable Outlooks, Short-term foreign and local currency 'B' and Individual 'C/D'. Its Support rating is upgraded to '3' from '4'. At the same time, Fitch has assigned AWB National Long and Short-term ratings of 'AA-(AA minus)(mar)' with a Stable Outlook and 'F1+(mar)', respectively.
The ratings reflect AWB's strong domestic franchise, satisfactory profitability and adequate liquidity. They also take into account weak asset quality by international standards with fairly high impaired loans and significant single-name concentration, substantial exposure to the sovereign and weak capitalisation.The upgrade in Support rating reflects Fitch's opinion that the Moroccan government has an increased financial ability to provide support to AWB in case of need. However, this probability is moderate, because of uncertainties about the sovereign's ability to provide such support.
AWB was created in December 2004 from the merger between Banque Commerciale du Maroc, Morocco's second-largest commercial bank, and Wafabank, the country's fourth-largest commercial bank. It is the largest player in Morocco's commercial banking market, where it controls a deposit share of around 27%. The bank's strategy is to position itself as a leading bank in North Africa through organic and external growth, offering traditional banking services, leasing and consumer lending on potentially growing markets. It also plans expansion in Sub-saharan countries. In Fitch's view, AWB's budgeted growths are fairly ambitious.
Improvement in AWB's performance ratios has reflected the success of the merger and aggressive lending activity in 2005. Its return on equity and return on assets ratios were at a comfortable 16.5% and 1.37% respectively in the first nine months of 2006 on the back of growing net interest revenues, stronger commissions and increasing foreign exchange and securities earnings. However, its net income also benefited from low loan loss provisions (0.7% of gross loans in the first nine months of 2006), which may not be sustainable in the medium term given the bank's credit risk profile and the fairly strong recent loan growth.
Although improving, AWB's asset quality is a concern. Its impaired loan ratio decreased in 2005 and H106 (9.86% and 8.8% respectively according to management's figures) although this was due to large write-offs and strong loan growth. Unreserved impaired loans represented 13% of the bank's equity at end-H106.
Concentrations in AWB's loan book are fairly high and exposure to the sovereign risk accounted for a sizeable 12% of its assets at end-H106. Operational risk stemming from the bank's external growth is a concern. AWB reported a capital ratio of 9.81% at end-June 2006, which Fitch considers weak given the bank's risk exposure and growth strategy. The bank's management expects it to increase following the planned issue of MAD2bn subordinated debt in 2007.
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Note to Editors:
Fitch's National ratings provide a relative measure of creditworthiness for rated entities in countries with relatively low international sovereign ratings and where there is demand for such ratings. The best risk within a country is rated 'AAA' and other credits are rated only relative to this risk. National ratings are designed for use mainly by local investors in local markets and are signified by the addition of an identifier for the country concerned, such as 'AAA(mar)' for National ratings in Morocco. Specific letter grades are not therefore internationally comparable.
Fitch's rating definitions and the terms of use of such ratings are available on the agency's public site, www.fitchratings.com. Published ratings, criteria and methodologies are available from this site, at all times. Fitch's code of conduct, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, affiliate firewall, compliance and other relevant policies and procedures are also available from the 'Code of Conduct' section of this site.
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© Press Release 2007
