Fitch upgrades National Ratings of 10 Sri Lankan banks

Fitch Ratings has upgraded the National Long-Term Ratings of 10 Sri Lankan banks following the recent sovereign upgrade and recalibration of the agency’s Sri Lankan national rating scale.

According to the Ratings Agency, at the same time, Fitch has affirmed the National Long-Term Ratings of five Sri Lankan banks.

The recalibration reflects changes in the relative creditworthiness of Sri Lankan issuers after Fitch upgraded Sri Lanka’s Long-Term Local-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to ‘CCC+’ from ‘CCC-‘ on 20 December 2024. Fitch typically does not assign Outlooks to sovereigns with a rating of ‘CCC+’ or below.

National scale ratings are a risk ranking of issuers in a particular market designed to help local investors differentiate risk. Sri Lanka’s national scale ratings are denoted by the unique identifier ‘(lka)’. Fitch adds this identifier to reflect the unique nature of the Sri Lankan national scale. National scales are not comparable with Fitch’s international rating scales or with other countries’ national rating scales.

The banks’ National Ratings consider their creditworthiness relative to other issuers in the country. The recalibration of the Sri Lankan National Rating scale has resulted in upgrades of the National Long-Term Ratings of the following banks. The Outlooks remain Stable.