Fibank The international rating agency Moody’s assigned a "B1" long-term deposit rating to First Investment Bank.
The international rating agency Moody’s based its assessment on several criteria, including:
- strong earnings power and operational efficiency of the bank;
- broad, predominantly deposit-based funding structure;
- large liquidity buffers;
- more efficient corporate governance and risk management, which First Investment Bank develops in cooperation with the International Financial Corporation (IFC).
Moody's indicated that Fibank has achieved strong income generation and good return on assets, as evidenced by its 3.6% ratio of pre-provision income to risk weighted assets as of December 2016. The rating agency pointed out that the bank’s income streams were well diversified and the liquid assets ratio was a sizeable 28%.
Fibank maintains stable capital buffers, with a Common Equity Tier 1 ratio of 12.0% as of December 2016 and Tier 1 ratio of 15.1%, well above the 11.5% regulatory minimum.
The rating agency reminds that Fibank is the third largest bank in Bulgaria, with a market share of 13% of domestic retail deposits.
According to the preliminary reporting data as of June 30, 2017, First Investment Bank's profit before impairment and taxes amounted to BGN 82 million, and net profit was BGN 40 million. For the first six months of 2017, net interest income amounted to BGN 124 million, and the net fee and commission income was BGN 49 million.
As of June 30, 2017, Fibank reported a significant 9.4% decrease in total non-performing loans compared to March 31, 2017, their share in the loan portfolio decreasing to 23.5% from 26.0% in the second quarter of 2017.