Aug 29, Colombo: Fitch Ratings Lanka has today assigned a 'AAA(lka)' National Long-term rating to Standard Chartered Bank, Sri Lanka Branch (SCBSL). The Outlook on the rating is Stable.

SCBSL's rating reflects the financial strength of Standard Chartered Bank (SCB; rated 'A+'/Stable Outlook, which is higher than the sovereign foreign currency Issuer Default Rating of 'B+'/Stable Outlook) of which SCBSL is a branch and part of the same legal entity.

The bank experienced a lull in FY07 in which it temporarily slowed expansion of its loan book to just 4.3% (FYE06:39.1%) on the back of more cautious lending. This is similar to the trend witnessed amongst the domestic private licensed commercial bank (LCB) sector, which also registered a slowdown in credit growth during a period (16.5% at FYE07 from 22.9% at FYE06) of tightening monetary policy.

SCBSL has since realigned its growth strategy for FY08 to focus on its more creditworthy corporate segment. As such, the bank registered high loan growth of 22.7% at end-March '08 (Q108), driven mainly through its upper and middle tier corporate clients.