International Rating Agency, Moody’s Downgrades 9 Top Nigerian Banks

Nigerian banks have been downgraded by Moody’s, an International rating agency based in the US

According to the agency, the downgrade is due to Nigeria’s worsening economic outlook especially with recent reports that fraud via payment channels has increased by over 200 per cent

Moody’s Investors Service, an International rating agency therefore, devalued the 9 Nigerian banks after after last week’s review of the country’s financial activities last week.

The affected banks include:

• Access Bank
• Zenith Bank
• First Bank
• UBA
• GTBank
• Union Bank
• Fidelity Bank
• FCMB and
• Sterling Bank

In a report by Moody on Tuesday, January 31, 2023, the agency downgraded the 9 banks from B3 to Caa1, the long term deposit ratings, issuer ratings and the senior unsecured debt ratings.

A Daily Trust report said the New York-based agency stated that the devaluation of the the long term ratings of the banks shows a combination of two reasons:

• The weakening operating environment, reflected in the agency’s rating of Nigeria’s economy from ‘Very Weak to Very Weak+.
• The link between country’s creditworthiness from B3 Caa1 and the banks balance sheets based on their holdings of sovereign debt securities.

Moody’s, along with Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Group, is considered one of the Big Three credit rating agencies. It is also included in the Fortune 500 list of 2021

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