S&P prepares to raise BCP’s rating to “positive”
The financial rating agency has revised the outlook for the bank's rating upwards.
This Thursday, Standard & Poor’s decided to raise the outlook for BCP’s rating from “stable” to “positive”, leaving open the possibility of soon improving the rating given to the debt of the Portuguese financial institution which remains “garbage”.
The bank is rated “BB” by the US rating agency. The upward revision at a level may be positive for BCP, but is not enough to take BCP from below the investment level, as it would remain at “BB+”. It needs a two-level revision to move to “BBB-“.
“The rating action reflects our conviction that the European Central Bank (ECB) is gradually improving its internal profitability, while progressing with the cleaning of balance sheets and preserving the improvements in capitalization,” explains S&P.
The financial rating agency predicts that, despite the economic slowdown in Europe and the prolonged interest rate environment of the ECB, BCP’s profits will continue to grow on the back of declining bad debt losses. “At the same time, we expect BCP to continue to defend its solid position in the concentrated Portuguese banking system, where it holds a market share of 17.5% in loans and deposits,” he said.