September 20, 2019/Fitch Ratings
Fitch Ratings has assigned Access Bank Plc’s (Access: B/Stable) issue of NGN30 billion Tier 2 subordinated bonds a final National Long-Term Rating of ‘A(nga)’.
The assignment of a final rating follows the receipt of final documents conforming to information already received. The final rating is in line with the expected rating assigned on 6 June 2019.
Key Rating Drivers
The seven-year 15.5% fixed rate Nigerian naira bonds represent a subordinated unsecured obligation of Access and rank pari passu with the claims of all other subordinated debt. There are no contractual going-concern features such as coupon deferral/omission and write-down or conversion ahead of non-viability.
The bonds are rated one notch below Access’s ‘A+(nga)’ National Long-Term Rating. This reflects higher loss-severity relative to senior unsecured instruments, which is due to their subordinated status. No additional notching has been ascribed for non-performance risk, as Fitch regards this to be minimal relative to that captured in Access’s National Long-Term Rating.
Rating Sensitivities
The bonds’ ratings are sensitive to changes in Access’s National Long-Term Rating, which reflects the bank’s creditworthiness relative to other Nigerian issuers.
ESG Considerations
Unless otherwise disclosed in this section, the highest level of ESG credit relevance is a score of 3. ESG issues are credit-neutral or have only a minimal credit impact on the entity, either due to their nature or to the way in which they are being managed by the entity.