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Investing.com -- Moody’s Ratings has confirmed the A3 long-term domestic and foreign currency deposit ratings of The Daishi Hokuetsu Bank, Ltd. In addition, the bank’s baa2 Baseline Credit Assessment (BCA) and Adjusted BCA, P-2 short-term domestic and foreign currency deposit ratings, and A2/P-1 long-term and short-term domestic and foreign currency Counterparty Risk Ratings and Assessments have also been affirmed.
The bank’s rating outlook has been revised to stable from negative, reflecting an improvement in its asset quality, profitability, and strong liquidity. These strengths are offset to some extent by the bank’s moderate capitalization. The change in outlook also takes into account the bank’s efforts to reduce the interest rate risks associated with its securities portfolio.
The problem loan ratio of Daishi Hokuetsu has stabilized around 2.3% as of September 2024, a slight decrease from 2.4% in March 2023. Despite an increase from 1.5% in March 2020, the bank’s efforts to enhance borrowers’ credit quality and Japan’s steady economic growth have helped stabilize the asset quality over the past year. The bank’s high loan loss coverage will aid in mitigating potential credit losses.
The bank has reduced unrealized losses on securities after hedging as a percentage of tangible common equity (TCE) to 13.4% as of September 2024, from 19.4% a year earlier. This reduction was supported by the bank’s strategy of selling unprofitable bonds with unrealized losses and reducing the interest rate sensitivity of the bond portfolio. The bank’s significant unrealized gains on domestic equities of 21.7% of TCE as of September 2024 more than offset the negative impact of the bond portfolio.
The bank’s profitability, although still weak, is showing signs of improvement. The annualized return on tangible assets in the first half of the fiscal year ending March 2025 was 0.37%, an increase from 0.29% for fiscal 2023 and 0.17% for fiscal 2022. A rise in net interest income amid increasing domestic rates is expected to counterbalance an increase in operating expenses due to inflation and wage increases.
The bank’s TCE/risk-weighted assets (RWA) ratio was stable at 9.9% as of September 2024, compared to 9.8% in March 2024 and 9.6% in March 2023. The bank’s strong liquidity is supported by its high deposit share of 43% in its home market, Niigata Prefecture, as of the end of March 2024 and a low loan-to-deposit ratio of 64% as of the end of September 2024.
The A3 long-term deposit ratings of Daishi Hokuetsu are two notches above its baa2 BCA. This reflects Moody’s assessment of a very high probability of support from the Government of Japan in times of stress, given the bank’s importance to the Niigata Prefecture’s economy.
Moody’s stated that an upgrade of Daishi Hokuetsu Bank’s ratings could occur if the bank’s financial performance improves on a sustained basis. Conversely, a downgrade could occur if the bank’s problem loan ratio increases above 3%, the TCE ratio falls below 9%, profitability deteriorates, or interest rate risks rebound.
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