Fitch revises Polish bank’s outlook for BCP upwards to positive – Banking & Finance

Fitch revised Millennium Bank’s “forecast” upward from “stable” to “positive,” according to the note, which Negosius had access to. The “rating” for long-term debt, denominated in zlotys and foreign currency, remained unchanged at “BB”, two levels below junk.

The North American financial rating agency defends this increase in the “Outlook”, based on the “expectation of an improvement in the bank’s risk profile in the medium term” through the “gradual reduction of risks related to the foreign currency mortgage portfolio”.

This upward review also reflects Fitch’s belief that the improvement in profitability of the bank held by BCP by 50.1% will be able to “absorb the legal costs” related to legal proceedings involving the Polish bank.

It should be noted that Polish banks will have to create another 42 billion zlotys, equivalent to 9.42 billion euros at the current exchange rate, in provisions until 2025 to face legal actions related to loans indexed in Swiss francs, according to the country’s calculations. Association that brings together the country’s financial institutions (in Poland the abbreviation ZBP).

Fitch also noted “possible government intervention”. [polaco]which would lead to a “recovery of the bank’s capitalization”.

At the same time, on the same note, Fitch revised upwards the “rating” which rates shareholders’ ability to support the bank (in Anglo-Saxon SSR abbreviation) from “b” to “b+”.

This decision comes on the heels of an increase in the “rating” of the Chinese central bank, which, from the perspective of the financial rating agency, should have more capacity to support the Millennium Bank.