OREANDA-NEWS. On 19 May 2008 was BANK URALSIB announced that Standard & Poor’s Services has upgraded URALSIB’s Long-term counterparty credit rating from "B+" to "BB-", and has confirmed the Short-term counterparty rating at "B". The outlook is "stable".

According to Standard & Poor’s report, the growth of the Bank’s profitability due to the improvement of its commercial franchise and expanding diversification of the income sources and credit portfolio made for the credit rating upgrade. URALSIB strengthened the core earnings, which helped offset a substantial loss in 1H07 incurred from the sale of a large stake.

"The upgraded rating reflects the expansion and strengthening of the commercial franchise of the Bank in the regions of Russia, to our opinion, it favours the improvement of the Bank’s market positions, key financials and capital-generating capacity in the medium term", - says Elena Romanova, Standard & Poor’s credit analyst.

Standard & Poor’s considers that the Bank’s profitability remains high and will make for the improvement of URALSIB’s income structure.

"We are pleased with the decision of Standard & Poor’s Services to upgrade our Bank’s rating. We will continue our efforts to extend our geographic presence and diversify our customer base. At the same time we will follow the strategy of optimizing costs and maintaining capitalization at an adequate level, "– says Andrey Donskikh, Chairman of the Management Board of OJSC BANK URALSIB.