RIGA - July 11th, the international rating agency Moody's re-approved the ratings
it had previously assigned to Latvia's Hipotenku banka (Mortgage bank), assigning them a 'stable' future
outlook.
Moody's keeps an A2 rating for the bank's long-term deposits, and P-1 for its short term deposits: both investment-level ratings. The A2 long-term deposit rating is the maximum evaluation level for
the Latvian state, which owns Hipoteku, so no upward revision would be possible without revising the maximum evaluation of Latvia itself.
The Minister of Finance, Atis Slakteris, declared himself more than satisfied appraises performance of the bank and is satisfied at the positive evaluation of the rating agency: "The Mortgage bank is the only state-owned bank in Latvia, who has been actively involved in adjustment of the business environment. This moment is no exception, it is an active player in the stabilisation process of national economy by taking part
in implementation of support programme for improvement of entrepreneurs' competitiveness and increase of export volumes.
"The Mortgage bank's role being a development bank becomes particularly essential at this moment, as it serves as an instrument to stimulate the development of national economy. Therefore, I am satisfied that the international rating agency has found Mortgage bank's performance deserving the positive evaluation."
Board member Andris Riekstiņš said: "Ratings assigned to the Mortgage bank are the highest on the investment level amongst those banks in Latvia not operating on ratings of their parent banks... The rating is important to the Mortgage bank when borrowing financial resources from partner banks in the world and international finance institutions for implementation of national importance target programmes, as well as the fact that the bank is an issuer of debt securities traded on the stock exchange - mortgage bonds."
