The credit rating agency Standard & Poor (S&P) has upgraded Danske Bank Group’s long-term rating to A from A- and its short-term rating to A-1 from A-2.
"The upgrade is largely due to the closure of the bank's activities in Ireland – which suffered greatly over the past few years – and a decreasing need to depreciate,” S&P wrote in its evaluation.
“It is our 2015 goal to improve out rating by at least one level, and the improved rating by S&P is a good step forward to accomplishing our strategy,” Henrik Ramlau-Hansen, the head of finance at Dansk Bank, said in a press release.
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However …
The bad news was that S&P also changed the outlook for the group’s ratings from stable to negative, which basically means that the agency expects to downgrade Danske Bank within the next 18 months.
The negative outlook is down to external events such as new EU regulations that S&P expects to reduce subsidies that Danish banks are given by authorities.
Another credit rating agency, Moody’s, lists Dansk Bank with a Baa1 rating with a positive outlook, while Fitch gives it an A with a stable outlook.
