Stanbic IBTC Retains Fitch’s AAA Rating

Globally renowned credit rating agency, Fitch Ratings, has reaffirmed that Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC and its subsidiary, Stanbic IBTC Bank PLC, have retained their National Long-Term’ AAA (nga)’ and National Short-Term’ F1+(nga)’ ratings.

Fitch Ratings is a leading provider of credit ratings, commentary and research for global markets. The National Long-Term’ AAA (nga)’ and National Short-Term’ F1+(nga)’ Ratings are the highest possible ratings on Fitch’s rating scale.

Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC and Stanbic IBTC Bank PLC were rated high based on the potential support from their parent company, Standard Bank Group, which is based in South Africa.

According to Fitch Ratings, both organisations retained their ratings as a result of the vital role they play in Standard Bank Group’s primary operations in West Africa as well as its size and high operational integration.

“The National Long-Term Ratings on Stanbic IBTC Bank’s N30 billion senior unsecured notes and the National Long- and Short-Term Ratings on the N150 billion structured note programme for senior unsecured debt are in line with the Bank’s issuer ratings,” Fitch said.

Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC is a subsidiary of the Standard Bank Group. Its principal operating entity is Stanbic IBTC Bank, a mid-tier commercial bank, which represented 96 per cent of the holding company’s consolidated assets at the end of 2019.

Both entities are highly integrated with Standard Bank Group’s risk-management framework with access to Standard Bank Group’s competitive advantages relative to peers. This also includes connectivity to its network and the ability to serve large domestic and multinational companies.

The ‘AAA (nga)’ is given to issuers with the lowest expectation of default risk when compared with their competitors. The National Short-Term Rating of ‘F1+(nga)’ is assigned to issuers that have the strongest capacity for timely payment of financial commitments in comparison to other issuers in Nigeria.