Fitch Ratings has upgraded the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) to its highest rating: AAA stable outlook, up from the previous AA+ rating, which was attributed two years ago together with a positive outlook. With this decision, the CEB has now the highest rating with all the major credit agencies.
Fitch attributed the move to several factors: the CEB's increasing policy importance, including its role in providing support to member countries during recent refugee crises; the strengthening of the Bank's capitalisation, a very low credit risk and the resilience of its loan performance as well as its excellent liquidity.
Fitch highlighted the importance of the Bank's historic capital increase, the first-ever with paid-in resources, amounting to €1.20 billion, which will help shelter the Bank from rising credit risk in the countries in which it operates. In addition, the agency expects that the risk emanating from operations in Ukraine will be contained.
The Bank enjoys now the highest credit ratings with all the Credit Rating Agencies that assess its profile: Moody's (Aaa, stable outlook), Standard & Poor's (AAA, stable outlook), Fitch (AAA, stable outlook), and Scope Ratings (AAA, stable outlook) (unsolicited rating).
