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Moody’s Investors Service places the ratings and ratings of 16 Russian financial institutions under review for possible downgrade after place Russia’s Baa3 sovereign rating on watch for possible downgrade.
The United States, European Union and others have said they will block many of Russia’s biggest banks from accessing the SWIFT payment messaging system due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a move that will make cross-border remittances and payments more difficult for Russian banks, Moody’s says. Moreover, the sanctions against the Russian central bank will make it more difficult for it to use foreign exchange reserves to support the rouble.
Banks whose ratings are under review include Sberbank (OTCPK: SBRCY +4.8%)Gazprombank, Russian Agricultural Bank, Alfa-Bank, AKBARS Commercial Bank, Moscow Credit Bank and Russian Regional Development Bank, among others.
Moody’s decision comes a day after S&P Global Ratings downgraded four Russian banks – Raiffeisenbank AO, UniCredit Bank AO, Gazprombank JSC and Alfa-Bank JSC and its holding company ABH Financial. It also placed ratings on Russian financial institutions, their debt issues, subsidiaries and related entities on CreditWatch with negative implications.
On Feb. 25, S&P downgraded Russia’s foreign currency credit ratings to BB+ and placed all of its sovereign ratings on CreditWatch negative.
Earlier (February 25), Russia could be wiped out by Moody’s
