Moody's Investors Service has affirmed the local and foreign currency bank deposit ratings of seven Indian public sector banks (PSBs) at Baa3/Prime-3 The affected banks are Bank of Baroda (BOB), Bank of India (BOI), Canara Bank (Canara), Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC), Punjab National Bank (PNB), Syndicate Bank (Syndicate) and Union Bank of India (Union Bank). The counterparty risk assessment (CRA) of these banks affirmed at Baa3(cr)/P-3(cr).
Moody's also downgraded the long term local and foreign currency bank deposit ratings of Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) and Central Bank of India (CBI) to Ba3 from Ba1. In addition, Moody's downgraded IOB and Indian Overseas Bank, Hong Kong Branch's senior unsecured medium-term note (MTN) program rating to (P)Ba3 from (P)Ba1 and IOB's Hong Kong branch's senior unsecured debt rating to Ba3 from Ba1. The long term CRA of these banks has also been downgraded to Ba2(cr) from Ba1(cr).
Moody's also downgraded the standalone credit profile or the baseline credit assessment (BCA) of Syndicate to ba3 from ba2, and as a result, downgraded the subordinated MTN and junior subordinated MTN program ratings of the bank to (P)Ba3 and (P)B1 from (P)Ba2 and (P)Ba3, respectively.
Moody's changed the outlook to stable from positive for BOB and its London branch, Canara and its London branch, PNB, and Syndicate and its London branch, changed the outlook to negative from positive for BOI and its London branch and Jersey branch, OBC, and Union Bank and its Hong Kong branch, and changed the outlook to stable from negative for IOB and its Hong Kong branch. Outlook for CBI was maintained at stable.