(The following statement was released by the rating agency)
Oct 11 - Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said today that it has published a Credit FAQ to explain its rating actions on four Korean government-related entities (GREs) and four GRE-banks following its upgrade of the Republic of Korea on Sept. 14, 2012 (local currency: AA-/Stable/A-1+; foreign currency: A+/Stable/A-1).
After raising our sovereign ratings on Korea (for more details, please see "Republic of Korea Long-Term Ratings Raised To 'A+/AA-' On Assessment Of Reduced Geopolitical Risks; Outlook Stable," published Sept. 14, 2012), we upgraded Export-Import Bank of Korea (foreign currency: A+/Stable/A-1; local currency: --/--/A-1+); Small Business Corp. (foreign currency: A+/Stable/A-1; local currency: AA-/Stable/A-1+); Korea Housing Finance Corp. (foreign currency: A+/Stable/A-1; local currency: AA-/Stable/A-+); and Korea Finance Corp. (foreign currency: A+/Stable/A-1). At the same time, we affirmed the ratings on Korea Development Bank (foreign currency: A/Stable/A-1; local currency: -/-/A-1); Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK; A/Stable/A-1); NongHyup Bank (NH Bank; A/Stable/A-1); and Suhyup Bank (A-/Stable/--).
The Credit FAQ provides our opinions on frequently asked questions relating to the aforementioned rating actions.
((Bangalore Ratings Team, Hotline: +91 80 4135 5898 Debanjali.Ghosh@thomsonreuters.com, Group id: BangaloreRatings@thomsonreuters.com, Reuters Messaging: Debanjali.Ghosh.reuters.com@reuters.net))