OREANDA-NEWS. On 06 February 2009 was announced, that the International rating agency “Fitch Ratings” had affirmed ratings to JSCB “Forum” this 27th of January:

long term issuer default rating (IDR) in foreign currency affirmed as “B+”, outlook “negative”;

priority debenture debt — long term rating graded “B+”, recovery rating graded “RR4”;

local currency long term IDR affirmed as “ВВ–“ with a “negative” outlook;

short term IDR in foreign currency — “B”;

individual rating affirmed as “D/E”;

support rating affirmed as “4”;

national long term rating affirmed as “AAA(ukr)” — the highest level of this rating in Ukraine with a “stable” outlook.

Thus against the downgrading ratings of other Ukrainian financial institutions, ratings of bank “Forum” remain stable. The bank’s issuer default ratings and support ratings reflect potential support of its major shareholder — German “Commerzbank”.

The “negative” outlook on long term issuer default ratings of the bank displays potential for the downgrading sovereign ratings and applies to all Ukrainian banks graded by the agency.

“Forum” ratings were affirmed as part of the general ratings analysis of Ukrainian banks, considering the increase of liquidity risks and assets quality, as well as the intensified pressure on equity incurred by many Ukrainian banks as a result of sudden hryvnia devaluation in the 4th quarter of 2008.