RBS welcomes credit rating upgrade by Moody’s

The FINANCIAL — The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc (“RBSG”) welcomes the decision by Moody’s Investors Services (“Moody’s”) to upgrade RBSG’s senior debt ratings and the deposit ratings of RBS plc and National Westminster Bank plc (“NatWest plc”).

This is the result of an upgrade of the Baseline Credit Assessment to investment grade, baa3 from Ba1 for RBS plc and NatWest plc. The rating action reflects Moody’s recognition of the stronger standalone financial profile of the group and expectation for more stable performance in the medium term resulting from the group’s multi-year restructuring, according to RBS.

Moody’s have also affirmed the senior debt ratings at RBS plc and NatWest plc. This reflects Moody’s assessment that the volume of loss absorbing debt supporting senior debt under Moody’s Advanced Loss Given Failure analysis has reduced faster than their original estimates, resulting in a lower loss given-failure notching.

As a consequence of these actions:

RBSG senior unsecured debt ratings and short-term ratings have been upgraded to Baa3 from Ba1 and to Prime-3 from Not Prime 

RBS plc and NatWest plc deposit and short-term deposit ratings have been upgraded to A2 from A3 and to Prime-1 from Prime-2

All operating subsidiaries senior unsecured debt ratings remain unchanged

All outlooks have changed to Stable from Positive

Ewen Stevenson, Chief Financial Officer, said “Becoming investment grade rated for our long term ratings across all three credit rating agencies has been an important goal for us. It is further external validation that our turnaround is now well progressed.”