Fitch affirms BoI’s sovereign rating

Fitch Ratings has affirmed the national ratings of the Bank of Industry (BoI) as well as seven other banks.

According to Fitch, the rating actions follow Fitch’s downgrade of Nigeria’s Long-Term Local Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to ‘B+’ from ‘BB-’, as a result of which it is now equalised with the Long-Term Foreign Currency IDR.

A statement from Fitch explained that the new rating was driven by change in Fitch’s sovereign rating criteria.

“Following the sovereign criteria change and rating action, Fitch has recalibrated the National Rating scale for Nigeria. As a result the National Ratings for these banks are affirmed as there is no change in their relative creditworthiness.

“The National Ratings of BOI are driven by potential sovereign support reflecting its 99.9 per cent state ownership, its policy role and the bank’s strategic importance to Nigeria’s economic and industrial development,” the statement read.

BoI however maintained that it remains very virile and better repositioned to push the frontier of the nation’s industrial sector through aggressive business financing.