Global credit appraiser Fitch Ratings on Monday raised NH NongHyup Bank’s long-term credit rating from A- to A, in recognition of its leading position in the local banking industry, while keeping the firm’s outlook at stable. 

“As of last year, about 12 percent and 14 percent of the total credit loan applications and savings programs operated by local commercial banks were made through NH NongHyup Bank, respectively. The latest upgrade reflects the bank’s possibility to receive financial support from the government on the back of its significant presence in the domestic financial market,” Fitch said in a statement. 

Also, the financial regulator’s recent decision to designate NH NongHyup Bank as the so-called “domestic systemically important bank,” or D-SIB, along with four other major lenders, including Shinhan, KB Kookmin, Woori and Hana, was another driver of the improved credit rating, it added. 

Since 2016, the policymaking Financial Services Commission has selected a number of major commercial banks as D-SIBs every year, which are subject to the authority’s stricter capital requirements. 

The rating agency also revised up NH NongHyup’s short-term credit rating from F1 to F1+, the highest level in the four-tier system beginning from F3.
Meanwhile, the lender posted a net profit of 856 billion won ($744 million) for the January-June period, up 17.8 percent from a year earlier.