Societe Tunisienne de Banque – Ratings Affirmed

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 Societe Tunisienne de Banque (STB) at ‘C+’ and ‘C’, respectively. The Outlook for the LT FCR remains Negative. At the same time, CI Ratings has affirmed STB’s Bank Standalone Rating (BSR) of ‘c’, Core Financial Strength (CFS) rating of ‘b’ and Extraordinary Support Level (ESL) of Moderate.

STB’s LT FCR is constrained by CI’s internal assessment of sovereign credit risk for Tunisia. The Negative Outlook for STB’s FCRs is in line with CI’s internal assessment of sovereign risk for Tunisia, reflecting the continued very challenging operating environment and economy. The Outlook also reflects very high external refinancing risks, aggravated by still large external financing needs and limited financing revenues given the absence of direct access to capital markets. It also takes…