Agricultural Bank of China – Ratings Affirmed with a Stable Outlook

Capital Intelligence Ratings (CI Ratings or CI) today announced that it has affirmed the Long-Term Foreign Currency Rating (LT FCR) and Short-Term Foreign Currency Rating (ST FCR) of Agricultural Bank of China (ABC or the Bank) at ‘A’ and ‘A1’, respectively. At the same time, CI Ratings has affirmed ABC’s Bank Standalone Rating (BSR) of ‘bbb-’, Core Financial Strength (CFS) rating of ‘bbb-’ and Extraordinary Support Level (ESL) of Very High. The Outlook for the LT FCR and BSR remains Stable.

Benefiting from the ESL of Very High, ABC’s LT FCR is set four notches above the BSR, a level aligned with CI’s internal assessment of sovereign credit risk for China. The Chinese government has a strong track record of extending assistance to troubled banks in case of need, and has ample resources and policy flexibility to support the banking sector as a whole. The ESL takes into account ABC’s majority state ownership and global systemically important bank (G-SIB)…