KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 23): Fitch Ratings said it plans to withdraw its ratings of Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) and international ratings of PT Bank Maybank Indonesia Tbk (Maybank Indonesia) bonds "on or about" Sept 23, 2021 for "commercial reasons".
In a statement yesterday, Fitch said it reserves the right in its sole discretion to withdraw or maintain any rating at any time for any reason it deems sufficient.
"Fitch believes that investors benefit from increased rating coverage by Fitch and is providing approximately 30 days' notice to the market of the withdrawal of the ratings of Maybank and Maybank Indonesia. Ratings are subject to analytical review and may change up to the time Fitch withdraws the ratings.
"Fitch's last rating action for Maybank was on Dec 15, 2020, and that for Maybank Indonesia was Feb 10, 2021,” Fitch said.
Today, Fitch did not elaborate on the commercial reasons which led to its decision to withdraw ratings for Maybank and Maybank Indonesia bonds.
At the time of writing today, Maybank had not issued a statement in response to Fitch’s decision.
Fitch said it currently maintains its international ratings of Maybank and Maybank Indonesia as follows:
Maybank
- Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating 'BBB+'; Outlook Stable
- Short-Term Issuer Default Rating ‘F2’
- Long-Term Local-Currency Issuer Default Rating ‘BBB+’; Outlook Stable
- Viability Rating ‘bbb+’
- Support Rating ‘2’
- Support Rating Floor ‘BBB’
Issue ratings
- US$15 billion multi-currency medium-term note programme: ‘BBB+’
- HK$701 million senior unsecured note due Jan 18, 2023: ‘BBB+’
- US$100 million senior unsecured note due March 19, 2023: ‘BBB+’
- ¥10 billion senior unsecured note due Dec 22, 2026: ‘BBB+’
- US$45 million senior unsecured note due June 18, 2029: ‘BBB+’
Maybank Indonesia
- Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating 'BBB'; Outlook Stable
- Short-Term Issuer Default Rating ‘F2’
- Viability Rating ‘bb’
- Support Rating ‘2’
On Bursa Malaysia today, Maybank’s share price had risen three sen or 0.37% to RM8.15 at 11.08am, with a market capitalisation of about RM95.27 billion.
Maybank has 11.69 billion issued shares.