Bangkok Bank Given Rating Boost

[george]

Bangkok Bank given Moody's rating boost

BANGKOK: -- BANGKOK Bank Plc, the country's largest lender by assets, had its financial strength rating raised by Moody's Investors Service, which cited improvements in credit quality and profits.

The rating was raised one level to D+, the ninth highest financial strength, from D, Moody's said in an e-mailed statement. The Bangkok-based bank's debt and deposit ratings remain unchanged and the outlook on all ratings is stable.

The move reflects the bank's "healthy capital base, improvements in credit quality, and increases in profitability." Leo Wah, a financial institutions analyst at Moody's, said in the statement. Bangkok Bank has reduced its non-performing loans to 11.3 percent of total loans from 25.8 percent at the end of 2002, Moody's said.

The lender's second-quarter profit fell 21 percent as the resumption of tax payments and narrower margins offset a rise in lending. Net income dropped to 4.39 billion baht ($117 million) from 5.57 billion baht a year earlier, it said on July 20. Income from interest and dividends rose 45 percent to 18.8 billion baht, Bangkok Bank said.

Moody's said the bank will benefit from loan growth because its gross loan-to-deposit ratio is just 77 percent compared with the average 93 percent for three other banks in Thailand.

--bizday 2006-10-12