Fitch Ratings affirms  AccessBank’s long term IDR at ‘BBB-’

Baku, Finance Time. Fitch Ratings has affirmed AccessBank’s Long Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) with ‘BBB-’ – “outlook stable” at “Investment Grade” level. The Bank’s international credit rating was upgraded by Fitch at the end of 2014 from ‘BB+’ to ‘BBB-’. AccessBank remains the local bank with the highest credit rating and the only bank rated investment grade in Azerbaijan.

“The affirmation of the Bank’s investment grade rating ‘BBВ-’ confirms the high stability and the sound business model of AccessBank which is of particular importance in today’s environment where most economies in the former CIS region are experiencing challenging situations” - commented Michael Hoffman, CEO of AccessBank, on the rating affirmation.  

Below is the full rating list:

Long term IDR: affirmed at ‘BBB-’; outlook “Stable”
Short term IDR: affirmed at ‘F3’
Viability rating: affirmed at ‘bb-’
Support rating: affirmed at ‘2’

AccessBank was established in 2002 by Black Sea Trade and Development Bank, EBRD, IFC, KfW, a German consulting company LFS Financial Systems GmbH and AccessHolding. AccessBank provides loans to micro and small businesses and has a wide network of over 40 branches in Azerbaijan employing more than 2000 people.