Société Tunisienne de Banque – Ratings Lowered; LT FCR Outlook Remains Negative

Société Tunisienne de Banque – Ratings Lowered; LT FCR Outlook Remains Negative

Capital Intelligence Ratings (CI Ratings or CI) today announced that it has downgraded the Long-Term Foreign Currency Rating (LT FCR) and Short-Term Foreign Currency Rating (ST FCR) of Société Tunisienne de Banque (STB) to ‘C+’ and ‘C’, respectively, from ‘B-’ and ‘B’. The Outlook for the LT FCR remains Negative. At the same time, CI Ratings has lowered STB’s Bank Standalone Rating (BSR) by one notch to ‘c’, from ‘b-’, and the Core Financial Strength (CFS) rating to ‘b’, from ‘b+’. STB’s Extraordinary Support Level (ESL) of Moderate has been affirmed.

The change in STB’s FCRs and BSR follows a lowering in CI’s internal assessment of sovereign risk for Tunisia and also reflects the more challenging operating environment and weaker economy. The downward adjustment of our internal assessment of the sovereign’s…