Aug 2006 Financial News

CariCRIS assigns rating to Republic

Aug 30, 2006

Caribbean Information and Credit Rating Services Limited (CariCRIS), the Caribbean regional credit rating agency, has assigned ratings of CariAA+ (Foreign Currency Rating) and CariAA+ (Local Currency Rating) in its regional rating scale, and ttAA+ on the T&T National Scale to the notional debt issue of the size of US$75 million of Republic Bank Limited (RBL). These ratings indicate that the level of creditworthiness of this obligation, adjudged in relation to other obligations in the Caribbean and within T&T is high.

The rating of Republic Bank Limited (RBL) reflects the bank’s strong market position in Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Grenada and Guyana and its good diversity in earnings, assets and resource base. RBL’s profitability compares favourably with international benchmarks and its asset quality and provisioning are comparable with other indigenous banks in the English-speaking Caribbean region. RBL’s strengths are, however, tempered by the scope for improvement in its risk management and information systems, and continuing losses from its subsidiary in the Dominican Republic. Going forward, RBL’s credit profile will be dependant upon its ability to grow across the Caribbean region without impairing performance indicators.

RBL is among the leading banking groups in the Region with a history of about 170 years and a presence in seven countries. RBL’s position is the second-largest in both T&T and Barbados, with it’s subsidiaries in Grenada and Guyana maintaining strong leadership positions in these countries. While the operations in T&T were the largest, contributing around 55 per cent to RBL’s total assets as at September 30, 2005, the assets of the operations in Barbados, Dominican Republic and other regions accounted for 23 per cent, five per cent and 18 per cent of RBL’s total assets respectively.

The Trinidad Guardian
Wednesday, August 30, 2006.
http://www.guardian.co.tt/business2.html