Fitch Ratings has affirmed the Asian Development Bank's (AsDB) long-term Issuer default rating (IDR) at 'AAA' with a stable outlook and its short-term IDR at 'F1+'.

AsDB's capitalisation is strong but has been declining in the last four years, notably due to rising lending; the equity-to-adjusted assets ratio dropped to 20.7% in 2013 from 24.2% in 2009. As the capital increase in 2009 was mostly made up of callable capital (96%), equity growth has been limited.

The bank's strategy is prudent. AsDB's self-imposed lending limit remains at a high level (USD 120.6 billion at end-2013) due to the recent capital increase. Approvals increased 9.7% in 2013 to USD 10.2 billion, of which 86% were sovereign loans. Sovereign loans accounted for 92.4% of its outstanding exposure at end-2013.