Fitch Upgrades 10 Sri Lankan NBFIs’ Ratings, Affirms 8 Following National Scale Recalibration

Fitch Ratings has upgraded the National Long-Term Ratings of 10 Sri Lankan non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs) and affirmed the ratings of eight. This comes after the agency's Sri Lankan National Rating scale was recalibrated to reflect changes in relative creditworthiness among the country's issuers following the upgrade of Sri Lanka's Long-Term Local-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to 'CCC+' from 'CCC-' on 20 December 2024.

Rating actions on NBFIs with National Long-Term Ratings that are driven by their standalone profiles:

- Central Finance Company PLC (CF) upgraded to 'A(lka)' from 'A-(lka)'; Outlook Stable

- LB Finance PLC upgraded to 'A-(lka)' from 'BBB+(lka)'; Outlook Stable

- Fintrex Finance Limited upgraded to 'BB(lka)' from 'BB-(lka)'; Outlook Stable

- Citizens Development Business Finance PLC (CDB) affirmed at 'BBB(lka)'; Outlook Stable

- Senkadagala Finance PLC (Senka) affirmed at 'BBB(lka)'; Outlook Stable

- Mercantile Investments and Finance PLC (MIF) affirmed at 'BBB-(lka)'; Outlook Stable

Rating actions on bank-supported NBFIs, following the actions on their parent banks. Please see "Fitch Upgrades 10 Sri Lankan Banks' National Ratings and Affirms Five after Scale Recalibration", published 21 January 2025:

- People's Leasing & Finance PLC (PLC) upgraded to 'A(lka)' from 'A-(lka)'; Outlook Stable

- CBC Finance LTD (CBCF) upgraded to 'A(lka)' from 'BBB+(lka)'; Outlook Stable

- HNB Finance PLC (HNBF) upgraded to 'A(lka)' from 'BBB+(lka)'; Outlook Stable

- Siyapatha Finance PLC upgraded to 'A(lka)' from 'BBB+(lka)'; Outlook Stable

- Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka & Finance PLC (MBSL) upgraded to 'A(lka)' from 'BBB+(lka); Outlook Stable

- UB Finance PLC (UBF) affirmed at 'BB(lka)' ; Outlook remains Negative

Actions on the shareholder support-driven National Long-Term Ratings of local corporate-owned NBFIs: Please see "Fitch Upgrades 7, Revises 2 Sri Lankan Non-Financial Corporates' Ratings on National Scale Revision", published 22 January 2025:

- Abans Finance PLC (AFP) upgraded to 'A-(lka)'/Stable from 'BBB+(lka)'/Negative

- Singer Finance (Lanka) PLC (SFP) upgraded to 'BBB+(lka)' from 'BBB(lka)'; Outlook Stable

- Dialog Finance PLC (DF) affirmed at 'AA(lka)'; Outlook Stable

- Richard Pieris Finance Limited (RPF) affirmed at 'A(lka)'; Outlook revised to Stable from Negative

- AMW Capital Leasing And Finance PLC (AMWCL) affirmed at 'BBB(lka)'; Outlook remains Negative

- Senfin Asset Management (Private) Limited affirmed at 'BBB-(lka)'; Outlook Stable

A full list of rating actions is below.

The National Ratings of other Sri Lankan NBFIs, which are not mentioned in this commentary, have not been affected by the recalibration.

National scale ratings are a risk ranking of issuers in a particular market designed to help local investors differentiate risk. Sri Lanka's national scale ratings are denoted by the unique identifier '(lka)'. Fitch adds this identifier to reflect the unique nature of the Sri Lankan national scale. National scales are not comparable with Fitch's international rating scales or with other countries' national rating scales.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Top
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x