Moody’s raises credit rating of 7 PHL banks

Following a credit rating upgrade for the Philippines Wednesday, Moody's Investors Services on Thursday raised the foreign currency deposit rating of the country's seven biggest banks. Moody’s has upgraded the country's credit rating to two notches below investment grade with a stable outlook. The agency upgraded the ratings of seven Philippine banks from Ba3 to Ba2 — or just two notches below investment grade — with a stable outlook. The seven banks Banco de Oro Unibank, Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), Metrobank Group, Philippine National Bank and Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., all owned by large conglomerates in the country. Two government banks — Land Bank of the Philippines and Development Bank of the Philippines — were also given a credit rating upgrade. "The rating actions are in line with the upgrade of the Philippines sovereign's foreign currency deposit ceiling to Ba2 from Ba3," the rating agency said. Meanwhile, the ratings of Allied Banking Corp. and the sequestered United Coconut Planters Bank remain unaffected as none of their ratings are constrained by the deposit or debt ceilings of the Philippines, Moody's said. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas data showed that as of end-2010, Banco de Oro emerged as the country's largest bank in terms of assets (P973.61 billion), followed by BPI (P728.11 billion) and Metrobank (P706.97 billion). —JMT/VS, GMA News