On the occasion of the launch of the rating and monitoring platform for major exposures and at-risk commitments, the Banking and Financial Council (CBF) recently organized a kick-off meeting attended by the chief executive officers of banks and financial institutions, as well as business managers responsible for risk, exposures, and credit.
According to the CBF, this kick-off crowns a program initiated in April 2021 and implemented over the past thirty months under its aegis, in partnership with the national rating agency PBR Rating, and marks the start of Phase II, dedicated to sharing, developing, and consolidating the achievements made.
This rating program, specifically designed to support the banking and financial sector in the prevention, detection, and monitoring of at-risk exposures, based on each institution’s strategic choices, has enabled compliance for those that were part of the pilot group.
Moreover, the program has made it possible to rate companies whose commitments with the banking and financial sector exceed 25 million dinars, a success for both the sector and the national economic fabric.
More than 2.5 billion dinars in assets have been rated, corresponding to 63 ratings and rating reports, with over 21 files currently being processed in the short term.
This start highlights the importance of ratings for banks and financial institutions and the commitment of Tunisian companies to improving their financial standing.
Ratings, as provided for by current prudential regulations, allow banks and financial institutions to gain better visibility into the degree of stability and sustainability of their corporate clients.
Better steering of financial risks
Alongside the internal scoring process (SNI), evolving external exposure-rating assignments provide the banking and financial sector with improved steering of financial risks, consolidation of risk management indicators, sectoral risk mapping, greater visibility into the economic and financial environment, and decision-support tools to refine commercial and strategic policies, the CBF noted.
Rating reports will also enable bank and financial institution clients to access a comprehensive rating diagnosis of their solvency and the quality of their financial situation, as well as their real capacity for borrowing and repayment, thereby benefiting from ongoing support in operational efficiency and financial management.
It should also be noted, as elsewhere, that ratings serve, both for borrowers and lenders, as a substantiated basis for negotiation on pricing and financing conditions. Strengthening and deploying this program on a broader scale aim to ensure the reliability of ongoing operations and, potentially, the security and prevention of systemic risks facing the banking and financial sector.
The implementation of this new phase of the program, through the sharing, under the CBF’s aegis, of the rating and monitoring platform for major exposures, aims to centralize ratings and rating reports related to the sector’s major exposures in an up-to-date database, for the benefit of all CBF members.
In this context, the CBF, alongside PBR Rating, contributes to promoting and strengthening transparency and the quality of financial information, its assessment, and the handling of counterparty risks within the banking and financial sector, in support of sound governance in line with best practices and applicable regulations.
