Moody's Upgrades FIBI's Long-term Rating to A2 With a Stable Outlook

TEL AVIV, Israel, Dec. 19, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- First International Bank of Israel (TASE: FIBI) one of Israel's major banking groups, today announced that the international rating agency Moody's Investors Service ("Moody's"), upgraded FIBI's local- and foreign-currency long-term deposit ratings to A2 from A3 and changed the outlook on these to stable from positive. 

At the same time, Moody's upgraded the bank's short-term deposit ratings to Prime-1, its long-term Counterparty Risk Ratings to A1, its long-term Counterparty Risk assessment (CRA) to A1(cr), and its standalone Baseline Credit Assessment (BCA) and Adjusted BCA to baa2. The short-term Counterparty Risk Ratings and CRA were affirmed at Prime-1 and Prime-1(cr) respectively.

In making the upgrade, Moody's added that this reflects the improvement in FIBI's solvency, leading to a financial profile now commensurate with a baa2 BCA. It noted the low asset risk, the decline in credit concentration, the high capital adequacy, and the improvement in efficiencies in recent years.

This move follows a similar one made earlier in 2019 by the two main Israeli rating companies: Maalot and Midroog, which raised the rating to that of the highest possible, AAA.

FIBI's rankings are now similar to that of the three other largest Israeli banks: Leumi, Hapoalim and Mizrahi Tefachot, while higher than that of Discount.

The above report is an abstract from the reports that were recently issued by Moody's. The full text is available on FIBI's website.

About First International Bank Israel

The First International Bank of Israel (FIBI) is among Israel's five largest banking groups. FIBI Group provides a wide range of financial products and services to customers with the highest standards of professionalism and service. FIBI group includes the parent company, First International Bank, and its banking subsidiaries in Israel: Otsar Ha-Hayal Bank and Massad Bank. Together, the three banks operate a network of 160 branches.

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SOURCE First International Bank of Israel