Fitch revises Intesa Sanpaolo and Unicredit ratings upwards

As always, after Fitch's upgrade of Italy's rating last Friday, similar moves are starting to come for Italian banks. In fact, the ratings on Italy's two largest banking groups have already been revised upwards by Fitch Ratings. The rating agency raised the Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (Idr) of Intesa Sanpaolo from 'BBB' to 'A-' and the Viability Rating (Vr) from 'BBB' to 'A-'. The outlook on the long-term IRR is stable. As stated in a note by the rating agency, the promotion "reflects Fitch's recent upward revision of Italy's rating from 'BBB' to 'BBB+' and Fitch's view that Intesa Sanpaolo's ratings "should be limited to a notch above Italy's sovereign rating, given the bank's exceptional strength".

It also raised the Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (Idr) and the Senior Preferred Rating of UniCredit by one notch, to 'A-', and assigned a stable outlook. The rating is one notch (i.e. one notch) higher than the Italian sovereign rating. According to Fitch, UniCredit's geographic diversification into performing or growing economies and very strong loss-absorbing capacity place it in an exceptionally strong position relative to domestic competitors, while diversification also supports performance over time. The Viability Rating (i.e. the standalone rating) was raised to 'a-', while the ratings corresponding to Long-Term Deposit, Senior Non-Preferred, Tier 2 and Additional Tier 1 were all raised by one notch. The short-term rating was raised to 'F1', while the short-term issuer rating was confirmed at 'F2'.