China Everbright Bank upgraded due to stable government control

Moody's upgraded China Everbright Bank's (CEB) long-term foreign currency deposit ratings to Baa3 from Ba1. It also upgraded its short-term foreign currency deposit ratings to Prime-3 from Not-Prime. The outlook is stable.

Moody's has also affirmed CEB's bank financial strength rating of D- and changed the outlook to positive from stable. The D- BFSR maps to a baseline credit assessment of Ba3.


"The upgrade to CEB's deposit ratings reflects our assessment that the position of the bank as one owned and controlled by the government will not change during Moody's rating horizon," says Yvonne Zhang, a Moody's Vice President and lead analyst for the bank.

Central Huijin Investment Ltd, representing the government, owns 52 per cent of
CEB directly and indirectly following CEB's IPO in August 2010, and has stated its commitment to not transfer its shares within the 36 months following the IPO. Huijin is a wholly owned subsidiary of China Investment Corporation, a sovereign wealth fund.