China Bank gets triple ‘A’ credit rating from PhilRatings

Philippine Rating Services Corp. (PhilRatings) has given China Banking Corp. a triple “A” evaluation rating as debt issuer.

In a regulatory filing submitted by China Bank vice president and corporate information officer Alexander Escucha on Tuesday, the Sy-led lender said it received the issuer rating from local credit agency.

The rating is an opinion by PhilRatings on the general and overall creditworthiness of the issuer, after evaluating a debt issuer’s ability to meet all its financial obligations within one year.

It focuses on financial strength and stability of an issuer under normal and stressed conditions to be able to meet existing and prospective financial obligations.

“A company rated PRS Aaa has a very strong capacity to meet its financial commitments relative to that of other Philippine corporates,” China Bank said.

PRS Aaa is the highest corporate credit rating assigned under PhilRatings’ scale.

“The rating takes into account China Bank’s growth strategy, which supports expansion in scale, market reach, and product base, while keeping its solid franchise on its core market; synergies with its strong shareholder and experienced management; sound asset quality; improvement in funding profile; and the favorable outlook of the domestic banking industry,” the bank said.

China Bank is the country’s sixth-largest bank based on assets, loans, and deposits as of September 30, 2018.

The bank has 616 branches and 951 automated teller machines. —Ted Cordero/VDS, GMA News