As part of a downgrade of 23 Australian financial institutions, IMB Ltd acknowledges Standard & Poor’s (S&P) decision to lower its long term credit rating from ‘BBB+’ to ‘BBB’. The outlook applied by S&P to this rating is ‘Stable’.
In S&P’s view, economic imbalances in Australia have increased due to strong growth in private sector debt and residential housing prices, which has exposed financial institutions in Australia to greater economic risks. In its announcement of this change, S&P also indicated that notwithstanding its view that the risk of a downside scenario and its impact have increased, it considers the outlook for Australian banks remains relatively stable by global standards.
There was no change to IMB’s short-term rating of ‘A-2’.
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