Société Générale - Reaktionen

Cosa , Donnerstag, 24.01.2008, 04:35 (vor 6694 Tagen) @ Georges

Reaktionen lassen nicht lange auf sich warten:

FITCH DOWNGRADES SOCIETE GENERALE TO 'AA-'

Fitch Ratings-Paris/London-24 January 2008: Fitch Ratings has today downgraded Societe Generale's (SG) Long-term (LT) Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to 'AA-' (AA minus) from 'AA' and the Individual Rating to 'B' from 'A/B'. SG's Shortterm (ST) IDR and Support Ratings are affirmed respectively at 'F1+' and '1'. The Outlook for the LT IDR is Stable and the Support Floor is affirmed at 'A-' (A minus).

This action follows the profit warning announcement made by the bank today. The EUR4.9bn fraud-related trading loss uncovered at the bank is very substantial and has arisen within the bank's equity trading division, core to SG's business. While Fitch understands that SG has been the victim of fraud undertaken by one single trader under very specific circumstances, the extent to which the fraudulent positions taken were concealed raises questions about the effectiveness of the bank's processing systems and creates reputational risk for the group.

Fitch has reviewed details of SG's EUR3.6bn CDO positions (after asset write-down, as at 31 December 2007) and EUR1.2bn exposure to US monoline insurance companies. The EUR2.05bn writedowns/provisions announced today appear adequate given current market conditions. While additional writedowns cannot be ruled out given ongoing issues with valuation, Fitch considers management's current valuations to be reasonable.

The underwritten EUR5.5bn capital injection will redress SG's capital ratios to a reassuring level of c.8.4% Tier 1, reducing to some 8.0% once the acquisition of Russia's Rosbank (LT IDR 'BB-' (BB minus), Rating Watch Positive) has been completed.

Fitch expects 2008 to be a difficult year for SG. The agency is not able to determine the extent to which the erosion of SG's reputation in the markets will affect its ability to retain leadership in its key fixed income and equity activities. The bank remains dependent on corporate and investment banking (CIB) business (which contributed 32% of operating income in H107) and the outlook for CIB business in 2008 is expected to be tough given currently turbulent markets.
Further, Fitch believes the outlook for growth for other business divisions, such as asset management, is difficult.

Nevertheless, the Outlook for SG's LT IDR is Stable, held up by several strong points, notably its broad geographical diversification, good franchise in France's retail banking markets, well managed international retail banking activities, good retail deposit base and management's ability to ensure that adequate capitalisation is in place.

SG's LT senior debt is downgraded to 'AA-' (AA minus) from 'AA'. Its LT subordinated and hybrid debt issues are also affected by this rating action, their ratings downgraded to 'A+' from 'AA-' (AA minus). Fitch has also downgraded the issues of SG Capital Trust I to 'A+' from 'AA-' (AA minus), the issues of SG Capital Trust III to 'A+' from 'AA-' (AA minus), and the programmes/issues of Societe Generale Acceptance N.V. (SGA) to 'AA-' (AA minus) from 'AA'.

The IDRs of Credit du Nord (CN), SG's 80% subsidiary, and Komercni banka (Kb), SG's 60.3% Czech subsidiary, are support-driven based on potential support from SG. CN's and Kb's ST and LT IDRs have been downgraded, respectively to 'F1' from 'F1+' and 'A+' from 'AA-' (AA minus). The Outlook for CN's and Kb's LT IDRs is Stable. CN's and Kb's Individual and Support ratings are respectively affirmed at 'B/C' and '1'. CN's LT and ST senior debt issues are downgraded to 'A+' from 'AA-' (AA minus) and to 'F1' from 'F1+', respectively.

Quelle: Fitch

Gruss
Cosa

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