Mar 2013 Financial News

Republic Bank gets high rating

Mar 15, 2013

Caribbean Information and Credit Rating Services Ltd (CariCRIS), the Caribbean regional credit rating agency, has reaffirmed the ratings of CariAA+ (foreign currency rating) and CariAA+ (local currency rating) on the regional rating scale, and ttAA+ on the Trinidad and Tobago national scale to the debt issue of the size of $1 billion of Republic Bank Ltd (RBL).

These ratings indicate that the level of creditworthiness of this obligation, adjudged in relation to other obligations in the Caribbean and within Trinidad and Tobago is high, CariCRIS said in a statement yesterday.

"The ratings on RBL continue to reflect the bank's strong market position in Trinidad and Tobago (T&T), Barbados, Grenada and Guyana.

"Further supporting the ratings is the healthy resource base marked by a high proportion of retail deposits and geographical diversity, comfortable capitalisation reflected in good coverage of total assets and high capital adequacy ratios. RBL has maintained good profitability measures, albeit at lower levels relative to the pre-crisis period, given the challenging regional macroeconomic environment," the statement read.

Additionally, the bank is likely to receive support from the Government in the event of a crisis due to its systemic importance as well as the Government's interests in the CLICO Investment Fund (CIF).


Soruce:
Trinidad Express
Friday March 15, 2013

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/business/Republic_Bank_gets_high_rating-198555061.html