New Delhi: Global rating agency Moody's has given ICICI UK thumbs up. ICICI UK which has been under the scanner for being a weak performer has now been given a clean chit by global rating agencies Moody’s and S&P.
It has declared that ICICI Bank in UK has a robust asset quality and liquidity and a high level of capitalisation.
The rating agency has also confirmed that the bank's investment book contains no high risk sub-prime securities.
The banks’ rating has been reaffirmed at Baa1 for senior debt, which is higher than the foreign currency senior debt rating of any Indian bank.
These ratings assume importance in the wake of reports that it was over-exposed to risk caused by the global meltdown and that the bank’s loan profile was not fully secured and credible.
Meanwhile in India, the ICICI Bank has lodged a police complaint against some brokers for spreading malicious rumours against the bank via SMS.
ICICI Bank Joint Managing Director Chanda Kochhar told PTI when asked about depletion in deposits following rumours casting doubts about the lender's financial health.
She lashed out at "vested interests" for spreading such rumours, which caused some apprehension among depositors mind.
On a query whether it had given huge loans without essential securities and collaterals, she said: "We are not adventurous in giving loans just to increase businesses. We follow prudential and conservative approach for our business both in India and overseas subsidiaries."
The bank has gone by clearly set-out risk management practices. There is a whole set of parameters on the basis of which risk assessment is done, she added.
Kochhar said the bank has never disbursed any loans without ascertaining the credit profile of its customers and whatever pre-approved loans it has been giving out have been to its existing customers after profile appraisal.
"There is nothing like that you can walk in and take loan without any documents or collaterals. If there are existing customers of ours such as those with salary accounts with our bank, they are given pre-approved loans," she said.
"We already have their salary and other details and based on that we know how much personal loan they are eligible for.
We go through their papers, KYC documents available with us in-house and then we set a pre-approved loan limit for them," Kochhar noted.
The risks of defaults on these loans are really low and within the industry norms, she said.
Kochhar said that the bank's financial position remains strong and this fact has been already endorsed by RBI, Finance Ministry and even global credit rating agencies like Moody's and Standard and Poor's.
Even the overseas loans extended by the bank are fully secured and have been extended to the foreign arms of Indian corporate giants like Reliance, Tatas and Birlas and therefore are not exposed to the crisis in Western economies like the US and Europe, she noted.
(With inputs from PTI)
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