OREANDA-NEWS. August 22, 2011. Nomos Bank, the seventh largest Russian bank by total assets and the second largest privately owned universal banking group in Russia, announces that Fitch Ratings has upgraded the bank’s Long-term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to ‘BB’ from ‘BB-’ with a stable outlook, reported the press-centre of Nomos Bank.

According to Fitch, the upgrade reflects:

Nomos’s strengthened franchise and increased diversification after the consolidation of Bank of Khanty-Mansiysk (BKM)

a track record of sound profitability and reasonable asset quality through the cycle

currently strong liquidity and adequate capitalization

The credit profile of Nomos also benefits from:

a track record of support from the bank's core shareholders, the ICT and PPF groups

increased capital flexibility following the bank's Initial Public Offering on the London Stock Exchange in April 2011

In addition, Fitch highlighted that Nomos:

is one of the few large privately-owned Russian banks that remained profitable through the crisis
is primarily customer funded, and non-deposit funding is quite diversified by source and tenor

has comfortable liquidity with highly liquid assets

is a strong performer, with recent return on equity around 20%, underpinned by a solid net interest margin, good fee and commission income and sound efficiency

“Fitch views positively the bank’s performance prospects, and expects pre-impairment profit to continue to represent a significant buffer to absorb potential loan losses.”

Commenting on the news, Nomos Bank’s CFO Vladimir Rykunov said: “The ratings upgrade by Fitch underscores the soundness of the bank’s strategy which aims to deliver the efficient, focused development of all the business areas while ensuring financial stability across the group.”