OREANDA-NEWS. December 21, 2009. Fitch Ratings has placed JSC “BPS-Bank” Long-term Issuer Default Rating of “B-” and Support Rating of “5” on Rating Watch Positive (RWP). The rating action follows Savings Bank of the Russian Federation's acquisition of 93.3% of BPS-Bank’s shares, reported the press-centre of BPS-Bank.

In accordance with the Agency’s press-release, the RWP reflects the potential upgrade of BPS- Bank's Long-term IDR to “B” and Support Rating to “4” following the completion of the acquisition, in light of the greater potential for the new shareholder, relative to the Belarusian authorities, to provide support in case of need.

The full list of rating actions is as follows: long-term IDR of “B-” placed on RWP, short-term IDR: affirmed at “B”, support rating of “5” placed on RWP, individual rating: affirmed at “D/E”, support Rating Floor: affirmed at “B-”.