OREANDA-NEWS. Fitch Ratings has assigned Bank of China Ltd. (BOC) Paris Branch's EUR1.2bn Bons a Moyen Terme Negociables (BMTN) programme a final Long-Term Rating of 'A'. The final rating is assigned following the receipt of the final documents conforming to information already received. Fitch assigned an expected rating of 'A(EXP)' to the programme on 31 March 2014 and reviewed the expected rating on 5 September 2014.

Please see "Fitch Rates Bank of China Paris Branch's BMTN Programme 'A(EXP)'", published 31 March 2014 for more details on the programme.

KEY RATING DRIVERS

In Fitch's view, the Paris Branch is part of the legal entity, BOC; therefore issuances under the BMTN programme represent direct, unconditional, unsecured, and unsubordinated obligations of BOC. The programme's ratings reflect the ratings expected to be assigned to senior notes issued under the programme, and are in line with BOC's Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) of 'A'. The bank's IDR is in turn based on an extremely high probability of support, if required, from the Chinese government.

RATING SENSITIVITIES

Any changes to ratings of the notes will be directly correlated to changes in BOC's IDR, which will in turn reflect any shift in the perceived willingness or ability of China's government to support BOC in a full and timely manner.