OREANDA-NEWS. May 31, 2010. Fitch Ratings has reconfirmed AccessBank’s BB+ Long-Term and B Short-Term Issuer Default Ratings and D Individual Rating.

The Bank reports that AccessBank remains the highest rated non-state owned financial insitution in Azerbaijan. Fitch also reconfimed the outlook for the Long-Term Issuer Default Rating as ‘Stable’ and the Support rating at 3.

The review of AccessBank’s rating followed Fitch’s upgrade on 20 May 2010 of the country rating and country ceiling for Azerbaijan to BBB- from ВВ+. AccessBank’s high rating is underpinned by the strong international shareholders of the bank. Accessbank’s Individual rating, the highest among Azerbaijani banks, rated by Fitch, reflects the quality of risk management, good profitability and solid capitalisation.

AccessBank General Manager Andrew Pospielovsky, welcoming the announcement by Fitch Ratings said: “The repeated reconfirmation by Fitch Ratings of AccessBank as the highest rated non-state owned bank in Azerbaijan is a testimony to the stability and strength of AccessBank.”

Fitch Ratings is a global rating agency committed to providing the world’s credit markets with independent and prospective credit opinions, research, and data. With 50 offices worldwide, Fitch Ratings’ global expertise, built on a foundation of local market experience, spans across capital markets in over 150 countries. Fitch Ratings is widely recognized by investors, issuers, and bankers for its credible, transparent, and timely coverage.

AccessBank is 100% foreign owned by six shareholders: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, International Finance Corporation, Black Sea Trade and Development Bank, KfW Development Bank – the Development Bank of the German Government (20% share each), AccessHolding - a strategic investor in microfinance (16.5%), and LFS Financial Systems - a German consulting company (3.5%).