NEW YORK, Jan 16 (A.A) - Moody's, one of the leading rating organizations, announced on Wednesday that it has downgraded its ratings for four Turkish banks, Akbank, Turkiye Garanti Bankasi, Turkiye Is Bankasi and Turk Ekonomi Bankasi, and withdrawn the ratings of Ottoman Bank.
The rating actions conclude Moody's review of the Financial Strength Ratings (FSRs) of the five Turkish banks and the local currency deposit ratings of Akbank and Ottoman Bank.
At the same time, Moody's has assigned first-time local currency deposit ratings for Garanti Bankasi and Turkiye Is Bankasi.
Moody added that it has also changed from negative to stable negative the outlook for the B1 senior debt rating of Eximbank and the outlooks for the B3 long-term foreign currency deposit ratings of all Turkish banks rated by Moody's following a similar change in the country ceilings. The banks affected by the outlook change on their foreign currency deposit ratings are: Akbank, Turkiye Garanti Bankasi, Turkiye Is Bankasi, Turk Ekonomi Bankasi, Finansbank, Disbank, Pamukbank, Turkiye Vakiflar Bankasi, Kocbank, T.C. Ziraat Bankasi, Toprakbank.
FIBA HOLDING AND BNP PARIBAS FAIL TO REACH AGREEMENT ON FINANSBANK
Fiba Holding and French BNP Paribas could not reach an agreement during their talks on sale of Finansbank and its financial partnerships.
Sending a statement to the Istanbul Stock Exchange (IMKB) on Wednesday, Fiba Holding said that its secrecy contract with BNP Paribas had expired as of the same day.
Talks on partnership of BNP Paribas which wanted to purchase Finansbank that was the 15th biggest bank in Turkey with 3.5 quadrillion Turkish liras of assets as of September 30, 2001, had started on July 2, 2001.