Fitch Upgrades Cathay General's IDR to 'BBB-'; Outlook Stable.NEW YORK New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of -- Fitch Ratings has upgraded the long-term Issuer Default Rating (IDR IDR In currencies, this is the abbreviation for the Indonesian Rupiah. Notes: The currency market, also known as the Foreign Exchange market, is the largest financial market in the world, with a daily average volume of over US $1 trillion. ) and short-term issuer rating of Cathay General Bancorp, Inc. (CATY) and its bank subsidiary Cathay Bank to 'BBB-' and 'F3', respectively. The ratings have been removed from Rating Watch Positive, where they have been since June 7, 2005. The Rating Outlook is Stable. A complete list of ratings follows the end of this release. CATY's ratings largely reflect the company's solid asset quality, consistently strong earnings performance, and sound capital base. The ratings also incorporate CATY's successful integration of GBC GBC Game Boy Color GBC Global Business Coalition GBC Green Building Council GBC George Brown College GBC Great Basin College (Nevada) GBC General Binding Corporation GBC Greater Baltimore Committee GBC Goldey-Beacom College Bancorp, acquired several years ago, and the satisfactory resolution of its Memorandum of Understanding A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is a legal document describing a bilateral or multilateral agreement between parties. It expresses a convergence of will between the parties, indicating an intended common line of action and may not imply a legal commitment. (lifted in 3Q05) pertaining to compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act The Bank Secrecy Act of 1970 (or BSA, or otherwise known as the Currency and Foreign Transactions Reporting Act) requires U.S.A. financial institutions to assist U.S. government agencies to detect and prevent money laundering. . Given the importance of international trade and cross border activities to CATY's business, this compliance matter is clearly a critical rating factor. Offsetting these issues, Fitch recognizes that the company has a concentrated loan portfolio and limited business diversity. Additionally, given the company's risk profile, Fitch expects CATY to maintain its sound capital and reserve base, especially in light of the company being an active acquirer. Fitch upgrades the following ratings: Cathay General Bancorp, Inc. --Long-term IDR to 'BBB-' from 'BB+'; --Short-term Issuer to 'F3' from 'B'. Cathay Bank --Long-term IDR to 'BBB-' from 'BB+'; --Short-term Issuer to 'F3' from 'B'; --Long-term deposits to 'BBB' from 'BBB-'; --Short-term deposits to 'F2' from 'F3'. Fitch affirms the following ratings: Cathay General Bancorp, Inc. --Individual at 'C'; --Support at '5'. Cathay Bank --Individual at 'C'; --Support at '5'. Fitch's rating definitions and the terms of use Terms of Use are rules set up by the owner of an intellectual property or service to govern how they may be legally used. In many cases, terms of service are used as a contractual agreement between a company and users of a service they provide. of such ratings are available on the agency's public site, www.fitchratings.com. Published ratings, criteria and methodologies are available from this site, at all times. Fitch's code of conduct, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, affiliate firewall, compliance and other relevant policies and procedures Policies and Procedures are a set of documents that describe an organization's policies for operation and the procedures necessary to fulfill the policies. They are often initiated because of some external requirement, such as environmental compliance or other governmental are also available from the 'Code of Conduct' section of this site. |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion