oody's Investors Service has upgraded the long-term foreign currency deposit ratings of Vseobecna Uverova Banka (VUB) to Aa3 from A1 while affirming all of the bank's other ratings; the outlook on all ratings is stable. Following the upgrade, the bank's foreign currency deposit rating is now at the same level as its local currency deposit rating. At the same time, Moody's has affirmed Eximbanka's
A1/Prime-1 foreign currency deposit ratings and changed the outlook to positive from stable.
These rating actions follow Moody's decision on 31 July 2008 to change the outlook on Slovakia's A1 foreign and local currency government bond ratings to positive from stable and to upgrade the country's foreign currency debt and deposit ceilings to Aaa from Aa1/A1, respectively. The local currency debt and deposit ceilings remained unchanged at Aaa with stable outlook. The positive outlook on Eximbanka's long-term foreign currency deposit rating reflects the positive outlook on the bond ratings of the Slovak government, which guarantees Eximbanka's liabilities.
VUB reported IFRS consolidated net income of SKK 4.1 billion (EUR 122 million) in 2007 and total assets of SKK 284.6 billion (EUR 8.5 billion). Eximbanka, the Slovak state-owned export credit company, reported IFRS net income of SKK 74 million (EUR 2.2 million) in 2007 and total assets of SKK 8.7 billion (EUR 259 million).