International credit rating agency S&P Global affirmed long-term rating of International Investment Bank (IIB) at “A-“ with a stable outlook.

Among the main factors leading to this decision S&P names a “very high” capital adequacy and a “very strong” financial profile of the Bank, good quality of the loan portfolio and assets, growing diversification of funding sources and instruments, continuous shareholder support.

S&P underlines that IIB managed to improve its capital adequacy thanks to the newly approved additional capitalization programme and paid-in capital installments from member states executed in 2020 within its framework.

The agency notes that the Bank continues to improve its risk management and compliance control systems. This allows the institution to maintain high assets quality, efficiently manage NPLs, and serves as a solid defense mechanism against negative consequences of the global economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The agency states that growing ability of the institution to raise money in the capital markets, expansion of its investor base and a strong continuous trend of decreasing cost of funding, played an important role in the rating affirmation decision. This includes the MTN Programme registered by IIB in 2020 on the Dublin Stock Exchange.

It has also been noted that liquidity levels and the quality of treasury assets remain at a high level. As at the end of 2020, the share of “A-AAA” rated instruments in the treasury portfolio constituted 68%. International Investment Bank plans to increase this indicator to 75% within the next two years.

“Affirmation of IIB long-term credit rating at “A-“ with a stable outlook in such challenging times for the whole financial world gives an important signal of our Bank’s trustworthiness and reliability, as well as of the accuracy of our strategy”, commented Alexandru Florescu, Deputy Chairperson of the IIB Management Board and CFO, “I am certain that this decision will be positively received by the global financial community, our investors, clients, and partners. This will provide for more opportunities to further increase volumes of our member states support”.