Baku, Finance Time. The rating agency Fitch confirmed on 18 December 2013 the long-term IDR rating of AccessBank at ‘BB+’ (outlook stable). The viability rating, assessing the stand alone risk without taking into account potential shareholder support was upgraded from ‘B+’ to ‘BB-‘.

AccessBank CEO Michael Hoffmann commented on the rating action: "The assessment of Fitch reflects AccessBank's successful development and achievements. The Bank maintains the highest credit rating in the Azerbaijani banking sector (‘BB+’). We are in particular proud on the upgrade of our viability rating (VR) to ‘BB’- which confirms the successful work of the entire team during recent years

The upgrade of AccessBank's VR to ‘BB-‘ from ‘B+’ reflects the bank’s extended track record of sound performance in a challenging operating environment, its sound financial metrics in terms of profitability, asset quality and capitalization, and strong governance and management.

The full overview over the rating actions is as follows:

Long-term IDR: affirmed at BB+, outlook stable

Short-term IDR: affirmed at B

Viability Rating: affirmed at BB-

Support Rating: affirmed at 3

AccessBank was founded in 2002 by BSTDB, EBRD, IFC, KfW, the German consulting company LFS Financial Systems (LFS) and Access Holding. AccessBank concentrates on lending to micro and SME businesses. The Bank has wide branch network through Azerbaijan and employs 1,857 staff.