Moody's assigns A3 to CIMB Bank's proposed EMTN

Moody's assigned a provisional foreign currency rating of A3 to CIMB Bank's US$1 billion Multi-Currency Euro Medium Term Notes Programme.
 

CIMB Bank's provisional A3 senior unsecured rating is driven by its D+BFSR, which maps to a BCA of Baa3, as well as the imputed systemic support. The BFSR rating carries a positive outlook. The rating incorporates CIMB Bank's improved franchise value -- through management's on-going initiatives to strengthen it -- as well as its sound financial condition. But the rating is constrained by the bank's fair risk profile and its improving -- but still weak -- asset quality.

As the third-largest Malaysian bank in terms of assets, Moody's believes that CIMB Bank enjoys a very high probability of systemic support, leading to three notches of uplift for its A3 deposit rating from its Baa3 BCA.

CIMB Bank's long-term senior unsecured local and foreign currency debt rating stands equal to Malaysia's A3 foreign currency bond ceiling.