Fitch Affirms and Withdraws FirstRand Bank Holdings' Ratings
Fitch Ratings-Johannesburg/London-02 July 2010: Fitch Ratings has affirmed and withdrawn the ratings of FirstRand Bank Holdings Limited (FRBH). The Outlooks on the Long-term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) and Long-term National Rating are Negative. FirstRand Bank Limited (FRB) continues to be rated and a full rating breakdown is provided at the end of this comment.
The ratings of FRBH have been withdrawn as it has ceased to be a bank controlling company for the main bank operating subsidiary of the FirstRand Group, FRB. On 1 July 2010, the FirstRand Group was restructured with FirstRand Limited (FRL) becoming the bank controlling company for FRB, regulated by the South African Reserve Bank (SARB). Under the new structure, FRB becomes a direct wholly owned subsidiary of FRL. At the same time, FRBH remains a wholly owned subsidiary of FRL and will be renamed and house the group's African interests. FRL also controls FirstRand Investment Holdings (Pty) Limited, which owns the group's non-banking businesses (for example its international wealth management and private equity businesses) and Momentum Group Limited, an insurance company. Momentum will cease to form part of the group by end-October 2010 if FRL's unbundling transaction is completed (see Fitch: Momentum-Metropolitan Merger does not affect FirstRand Bank's Ratings, dated 7 April 2010).
In light of the new structure, the ratings for FRBH have been affirmed and withdrawn.
The rating actions are as follows:
FRBH:
Long-term foreign currency IDR: affirmed and withdrawn at 'BBB'; Outlook Negative
Short-term foreign currency IDR: affirmed and withdrawn at 'F3'
National Long-term rating: affirmed and withdrawn at 'AA-(zaf)'; Outlook Negative
National Short-term rating: affirmed and withdrawn at 'F1+(zaf)'
Individual rating: affirmed and withdrawn at 'C'
Support rating: affirmed and withdrawn at '5'
Support Rating Floor: affirmed and withdrawn at 'No Floor'
FRB:
Long-term foreign currency IDR: 'BBB+'; Outlook Negative
Long-term local currency IDR: 'BBB+'; Outlook Negative
Short-term foreign currency IDR: 'F2'
National Long-term rating: 'AA(zaf)'; Outlook Negative
National Short-term rating: 'F1+(zaf)'
Individual rating: 'C'
Support rating: '2'
Support Rating Floor: 'BBB-'
FRL is a leading South African financial services company. FRL's South African banking activities are conducted through FRB and include the provision of domestic and international retail, corporate and investment banking services.
Applicable criteria, 'Global Financial Institutions Rating Criteria', dated 29 December 2009, are available on www.fitchratings.com.
Contacts: Denzil de Bie, Anthony Walker, Frederick Fouche, Johannesburg, Tel: +27 11 380 0900 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting +27 11 380 0900 end_of_the_skype_highlighting.
Media Relations: Peter Fitzpatrick, London, Tel: + 44 (0)20 7417 4364 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting + 44 (0)20 7417 4364 end_of_the_skype_highlighting, Email: peter.fitzpatrick@fitchratings.com; Hannah Warrington, London, Tel: +44 (0) 207 417 6298 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting +44 (0) 207 417 6298 end_of_the_skype_highlighting, Email: hannah.warrington@fitchratings.com.
Note to editors: Fitch's National ratings provide a relative measure of creditworthiness for rated entities in countries with relatively low international sovereign ratings and where there is demand for such ratings. The best risk within a country is rated 'AAA' and other credits are rated only relative to this risk. National ratings are designed for use mainly by local investors in local markets and are signified by the addition of an identifier for the country concerned, such as 'AAA(zaf)' for National ratings in Africa. Specific letter grades are not therefore internationally comparable.
Additional information is available at www.fitchratings.com.
Related Research:
Global Financial Institutions Rating Criteria
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