Commercial Bank rejects Fitch rating revision

Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC has termed the revision in its rating outlook to ‘Negative’ by Fitch Ratings yesterday  (22) ‘unjustified’, in a Colombo Stock Exchange disclosure.

Fitch Ratings Lanka Limited’ yesterday affirmed the National Long Term Rating of the Bank at AA (lka) whilst revising its outlook from ‘Stable’ to ‘Negative’ citing a Negative outlook revision of the Sri Lankan sovereign and the consequential deterioration of the operating environment and related risks.

The Bank said it is of the opinion that the revision in its rating outlook is not justified.

“….the Bank has sufficient safeguards in terms of its business model and sufficient capital buffers are in place to deal with any general deterioration in its operating environment of the nature described in the Rating  Report which is evidenced by the Bank’s consistent and robust performance in the past,” the disclosure stated.

Commercial Bank is Sri Lanka’s largest private commercial bank.