Baku, FinanceTime.  FitchRatings has affirmed AccessBank’s credit rating at BB+ (outlook negative) which is at the level of the Azerbaijani sovereign and the Bank continues being the financial institution with the highest creditworthiness of the country. At the same time, the rating agency downgraded the Bank’s viability rating from “b+” to “f” in the light of a substantial lift in provisioning thereby exerting pressure on the Bank’s capital. In order to strengthen the capital basis, AccessBank’s shareholders already approved a capital increase in the amount of USD 20m (AZN equivalent) in December 2016 which is going to be implemented in Q1 2017.   

AccessBank’s CEO Michael Hoffmann commented on the rating action: “We welcome the confirmation of the IDR rating at the sovereign level of BB+ which reflects the Bank’s sound position and high stability. We continue to actively support our clients to jointly tackle the current challenges and to prudently provide loans in local currency to our clients in all segments. The Bank’s strong shareholders and their firm backing is one of our important assets in this challenging environment”.

AccessBank was founded in 2002 by organizations such as the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank, EBRD, IFC, KfW, a German consulting company LFS Financial Systems (LFS) and AccessHolding. AccessBank – one of the leading banks of Azerbaijan, offers a full range of banking services and has an extensive branch network.