OREANDA-NEWS. Moody’s upgraded the long term deposit and senior debt ratings of Piraeus Bank SA to Caa1 (stable outlook). The upgrade reflects a combination of the following:

A restored capital base for Piraeus Bank following the recapitalization by Hellenic Financial Stability Fund (HFSF) and private investors in June 2013;
Reduction in the formation of new non-performing loans;
Improvement in the Bank’s credit profile with holdings of European Financial Stability Fund’s bonds (Aa1 rated) counterbalancing sovereign related exposure risk;
Improved funding and liquidity profile.
Moody’s notes that following the takeover of six different banking entities by Piraeus Bank in the last 18 months, significant progress has been made to integrate them. The rating agency expects Piraeus Bank to benefit from synergies as the largest commercial bank in Greece.

Earlier on 29 November, 2013, Moody’s upgraded Greece’s government bond rating to Caa3 (stable outlook). We note that the other two major international rating agencies (Standard & Poor’s, Fitch) have already assigned a higher credit rating to Greece, namely B- (stable outlook), which corresponds to a B3 rating in Moody’s rating scale.

Note. Piraeus Bank Group is one of the major banking institutions of Southern and Eastern Europe. Piraeus Group's pro-forma total assets amount to €93 bn, net loans to €62 bn and customer deposits to €55 bn (at the end of Septebmer 2013).

Piraeus Bank entered the Ukrainian market in 2007.

Piraeus Bank has the highest rating of deposits reliability provided by "Credit-Rating" Agency (grade "5"as of latest rating of 12.12.2013).

The Bank is authorized by the Pension Fund of Ukraine to make payments of pensions and financial assistance. The Bank is a member of Fund of Guaranteeing the Deposits of Individuals and Forum of Leading International Financial institutions (FLIFI).