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Notiziario Marketpress di
Mercoledì 08 Settembre 2004
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FITCH CONFERMA RATING ASSEGNATO A BANCHE POPOLARI UNITE |
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Bergamo, 7 settembre 2004 – L’agenzia internazionale Fitch Ratings ha confermato i rating attribuiti a Bpu Banca: Debito a lungo termine A- (A minus); Debito a breve termine F2; Rating Individuale C; Supporto 3; Outlook di lungo termine Stabile. Fitch Affirms Banche Popolari Unite’s Ratings Fitch Ratings-london-1 September 2004: Fitch, the international rating agency, has today affirmed Banche Popolari Unite’s (“Bpu”) ratings at Long-term ‘A-’ (A minus), Shortterm ‘F2’, Individual ‘C’ and Support ‘3’. The Outlook for the Long-term rating is Stable. Bpu’s Long-term, Short-term and Individual ratings are based on its strong franchise in northern Italy and Fitch’s expectations that the bank’s profitability should improve from the current subdued level, due to cost savings and improved operating efficiency. Fitch welcomes management’s efforts to strengthen its capital base, which the agency regards as thin. Bpu is the product of a merger in 2003 of two banking groups, Banca Popolare Commercio e Industria and Banca Popolare di Bergamo-credito Varesino, to form Italy’s seventh largest bank. Bpu benefits from a strong competitive position, thanks to its wellestablished presence in Lombardy. It has a large customer base to which the bank can market its products, which over time should help underpin a rise in Bpu’s underlying profitability. Fitch also expects operating efficiency to improve in 2004 and 2005, as operating practices and procedures are unified across the group, while back-office and support functions become centralised. Most of the one-off integration costs are being booked in 2003 and 2004. At end-2003, the group reported net impaired loans to total net loans of 3.4%. Bpu thus has slightly weaker asset quality than some of its immediate peers in northern Italy, mainly owing to a stock of weak loans in its subsidiary Centrobanca (Cb). In 2003, Bpu incurred sizeable loan loss provisions, equal to over 1% of total loans, as it tackled asset quality problems in Cb and countered an increase in impaired loans in the rest of the group arising from the sluggish economic environment and the default of Parmalat. Bpu has since tightened its control of Cb, and appointed new senior management. It expects to make smaller loan loss provisions in 2004. Bpu estimated its Tier 1 ratio to be around 6.5% at end-June 2004, which Fitch regards as slim. However, management is committed to increasing the Tier 1 ratio to over 7.5% by end-2005, mainly by retaining earnings, raising minority interest capital and by amortising c.Eur100 million of goodwill each year. In 2006 Deutsche Bank is expected to exercise a put option to sell to Bpu its 25% stake in Banca Carime (68.5% held by Bpu at end-August 2004) for c.Eur400m. On acquiring the stake, Bpu expects its Tier 1 ratio to fall back but still to remain above a minimum of 6.5% at end-2006.
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