The National Rating Agency (NRA) has affirmed its credit rating of AA on SMP Bank, with a stable outlook.
Factors behind the affirmation of the bank's credit rating are strong shareholders and the high likelihood of support on the part of owners, the broad corporate client base without any focus on specific sectors, the bank's widening possibilities to lend after capital uplift measures, higher lending amid the adequate quality of credit risk management, stable liquidity positions and the bank's high potential possibilities to draw resources to maintain liquidity (which substantially eases tension the sanctions pressure in terms of access to funding), and profitable operations throughout the period under review.
Among rating constraints the agency named high concentration of the credit portfolio on the biggest borrowers, which is balanced out by the good credit portfolio quality, the high amount and good quality of collateral. Also, despite an increase in the indicator during the period, the agency still assesses the bank's net interest margin as low.
