OREANDA-NEWS. January 30, 2013. International rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P’s) affirmed the following ratings of Bank Petrocommerce: ‘B+’ (long-term foreign currency and national currency denominated debt rating), ‘В’ (short-term foreign currency and national currency denominated debt rating), ‘ruA’ (long-term national currency denominated debt rating by national scale) with ‘stable outlook’.

The ratings of Bank Petrocommerce reflect moderate business position, capitalization and profitability, a moderate risk position as well as average funding indicators and high liquidity indicators. The ‘stable’ outlook is based on "improving asset quality indicators and better revenue generation prospects in light of resuming lending growth against only moderate capitalization".

In its rationale, Standard & Poor’s noted the Bank’s growing business volumes, which are in line with its new mid-term development strategy. "As a result, Petrocommerce’s loan portfolio grew by about 34% between January 2011 and October 2012. The Bank has a good franchise in the most prosperous regions across the country", highlights the rationale. Therefore, in the view of the analysts, the pick-up of business growth with a special emphasis on the retail segment and SMEs is likely to result in higher market share in the medium term. The rating agency also considered positive trends in the Bank’s risk policy and noted that "single-party concentration exposure is in line with the sector average, new provisions stood at 2.4% (on an annualized basis) of the loan book for the first nine months of 2012, which was higher than the industry average, while the nonperforming loan coverage ratio improved to more than 100%".

"The fact that Standard & Poor’s affirmed the ‘B+’ rating is yet another evidence of the efficiency of the Bank’s strategy aimed at developing core business segments, improving risk management model and, consequently, boosting efficiency and profitability of the Bank’s business", said Pavel Neumyvakin, Executive Director of Bank Petrocommerce.